The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
ZIMBABWE and Mozambique have agreed to enhance co-operation in Defence and Security issues such as transnational border crimes, human trafficking and smuggling of precious minerals, after the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) on Defence and Security, convened in Maputo last week.
The 12th session of the Mozambique, Zimbabwe JPC on Defence and Security was held from Wednesday to Friday, to discuss ways of increasing military co-operation in the fight against terrorism.
The Zimbabwean delegation was led by Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and comprised Minister of State for the National Security Owen Ncube and Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe.
Leading the Mozambican delegation was National Defence Minister Jaime Bessa Augusto Neto and included Home Affairs Minister Amade Miquidade and National Intelligence and Security Director General Julio dos Santos Jane.
A communique released after the meeting said the JPC “reiterated the need for enhancing cooperation in training, exchange visits, sporting and cultural exchanges, the fight against terrorism and other forms of transnational organised crimes.”
The Commission agreed to tackle cyber-crime, drug and human trafficking, poaching, smuggling of precious minerals and other commodities.
“The Commission underscored the need for the two countries’ Defence and Security sectors to enhance their collaboration in training, border patrol, intelligence sharing, correctional activities, use of technological tools to enhance co-operation and combat crime, and exchange visits, among other bilateral activities,” reads the communique.
At the meeting, President Mnangagwa and his Mozambican counterpart President Filipe Nyusi were praised for their unrelenting efforts under the SADC framework, in combating terrorism in Mozambique’s province of Cabo Delgado.
According to the commission’s communique, there was a review of progress in the implementation of the decisions of the 11th Session of the JPC held in Harare in March 2019.
“It noted with satisfaction the efforts made in implementing the decisions, in spite of constraints occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic,” reads the communique.
The Commission also condemned in the strongest terms the continued imposition of illegal economic sanctions on Zimbabwe by the West and called for their unconditional lifting.
At the end of the meeting, Zimbabwe extended an invitation to its Mozambican counterparts to attend the 13th Session of the JPC, to be held in Harare in August 2022.
