The approval of the document, which passed with 187 votes in favor of the four parliamentary groups, was marked by the withdrawal of the floor by the president of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, from some deputies of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), for deviating from the topic of the point under discussion.
The fact occurred with at least four deputies from that parliamentary group, who intended in their interventions to show solidarity with an Angolan family that is in Mozambique, following complaints about drug trafficking in Angola, with families affected by demolitions in Luanda and even about the country's governance situation, namely food security.
"We have to respect the agenda and we don't have to take advantage of the issues to get our messages across", appealed Carolina Cerqueira.
In the declaration of votes, the UNITA deputy, Alcides Sakala, said that they voted in favor because they understand that supporting the people of Mozambique in the fight against terrorism in the province of Cabo Delgado is a commitment of the peoples of the Southern African Development Community ( SADC).
"For that reason, we voted in favor to express our total solidarity with the people of Mozambique, in their struggle to maintain peace, sovereignty and national independence. In the face of the expansion and violence of groups that sow instability and insecurity in our continent, we call on African States to join efforts with a view to strengthening cooperation in matters of defense and collective security for mutual benefit within the respective spaces of economic integration", said the deputy.
In turn, the deputy of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) Ruth Mendes said that they voted in favor because the continued maintenance of Angolan forces in Mozambique is in accordance with the law and because it is a security issue that affects "the sister Republic of Mozambique, the SADC region, the African continent, taking into account the ripple effect that issues of insecurity can create".
The deputy lamented the position of her UNITA colleagues, which she considered "a depressing spectacle", given the lack of "sense of state" at a time when it was "a serious question who has to do with a country's security issues brother of SADC", with which Angola has historical and cultural ties.
At the presentation of the project, the Minister of State and head of the Military House of the President of the Republic, Francisco Furtado, said that Angola is part of this force with a military contingent of 20 officers, including ten crew members, two officers from the Regional Coordination Mechanism and eight officers of the Air Force in command and General Staff of the force, as well as an aircraft of the type Il-76, as the most important asset of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Angola in the mission of projection of forces in Mozambique.
According to Francisco Furtado, this is a mission whose performance by the personnel and crew of the Il-76 aircraft is limited exclusively to the coordination of missions of aerial projection of forces and means from the Member States and in the monitoring and support of information and intelligence and security services of the Armed Defense Forces of Mozambique, without the presence of forces on the ground according to its format.
Francisco Furtado noted that Angola carried out 86 flights from Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia and the Kingdom of Lesotho and a mission to transport means and equipment donated by the African Union to support the SADC military mission in Mozambique, the from Cameroon in November 2022.
In view of the extension of the SADC mission in Mozambique for the period from July 15, 2022 to July 16 of this year, stressed the official, the President asked the National Assembly to extend it for another three months, from April 10 to July 11 of the current year, as well as the adjustment of the respective terms and conditions.
Angola will maintain, for another three months, its presence in the SADC joint force for the Southern Africa Mission in Mozambique, with human and financial resources equivalent to one million euros.
