SAMIM – the SADC Mission in Mozambique – first deployed in July 2021 as a regional response to support Mozambique in combating terrorism and acts of violent extremism. This was as per a decision taken at an extraordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Maputo. Going further, that SADC Organ Troika Summit directed SAMIM leadership to start a phased drawdown in mid-December last year followed by complete withdrawal by 15 July this year. His visit is said by a SADC statement to “oversee and appreciate the process of drawdown and exit plan from the province [Cabo Delgado]”. The impending drawdown comes amid a drop in violence in norther Mozambique where that country’s insurgency is concentrated.