Geopolitics Daily
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🇲🇼 Malawi vice president confirmed dead

🇲🇼 Malawi vice president confirmed dead

and Mozambique intervention to end?

Billy Robinson
June 12, 2024

Good evening once again from Australia,

As we reach the middle of the second week of Geopolitics Daily, we cover two significant developments from Pakistan, as well as cabinet updates from India and Haiti.

Malawi mourns the loss of its vice-President, while an unidentified missile hits northern Lebanon.

Renewed concerns arise over Mozambique's Cabo Delgado state insurgency, as a coalition of Southern African states prepares to withdraw.

Top 5 Stories

1️⃣ 🇵🇰 World Bank approves $1 Billion for Pakistani energy project: The World Bank has approved $1 billion for the DASU Hydropower Stage I (DHP I) Project in Pakistan. The project, situated in Dasu town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, aims to enhance hydropower supply and socio-economic services. It will also strengthen the Water and Power Development Authority’s (Wapda) capacity for future projects. According to the World Bank Country Director for Pakistan, the project will significantly contribute to greening the energy sector and reducing electricity costs.

2️⃣ 🇵🇸 🇮🇱 Gaza bombed, despite UNSC ceasefire resolution: In the aftermath of the US-backed United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Israeli military conducted airstrikes in Gaza, resulting in casualties—including a child—as reported by the Wafa news agency. The airstrikes targeted multiple locations, including the al-Nasr neighborhood in the northern part of the city, where an unspecified number of individuals were injured. Additionally, Israeli forces bombed a home in the Shujayea neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, though casualty figures from that attack have not yet been reported.

3️⃣ 🇭🇹 New cabinet for Haiti: Haiti's transitional council appointed a new Cabinet on Tuesday to govern amid escalating gang violence. The new Cabinet includes Carlos Hercules as Minister of Justice and Public Security, Prime Minister Garry Conille as Interior Minister, and Jean Marc Berthier Antoine as Defense Minister. The country is bracing for the arrival of a U.N.-backed police force from Kenya to address the security crisis exacerbated by recent gang attacks, which led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry in April and the dissolution of his Cabinet.

4️⃣ 🇵🇰 Pakistani military operation against northeastern militant stronghold: Pakistani security forces conducted an overnight raid on a militant hideout in the northwest, resulting in the deaths of 11 militants. The operation, triggered by a roadside bombing that killed seven soldiers, targeted a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Lakki Marwat district. The military is continuing the operation to eliminate any remaining terrorists. While no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, suspicion falls on the Pakistani Taliban, which has intensified attacks since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistani officials accuse Afghanistan's Taliban of harboring TTP fighters, a claim denied by Kabul.

5️⃣ 🇮🇳 India’s President Modi unveils his coalition cabinet: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled his coalition government on Monday after the BJP lost its overall majority in the recent election. Seventy-one members were sworn in, with 11 posts going to coalition partners in exchange for their support. Despite these additions, BJP veterans dominate key positions, signaling policy continuity. Notably, there are no Muslim lawmakers in Modi's third-term administration, unlike his previous governments. Modi's tenure has focused on Hindu nationalism, raising concerns among the country's 200 million Muslims.

Major Story

🇲🇿 AN END TO THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY’S MOZAMBIQUE COUNTER-INSURGENCY?

The future of foreign military intervention in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique is uncertain as the region continues to grapple with an insurgency linked to the Islamic State. In 2021, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) deployed a 2,200-strong mission to assist Mozambique's efforts against the insurgents. Over three years, SADC forces helped stabilize the area, yet the insurgency persists with a recent increase in attacks.

In January, SADC announced plans to withdraw its forces by 15 July. Botswana and Lesotho have already withdrawn, and now Angola and Namibia have announced plans to pull out. South Africa, which has contributed 1,495 soldiers, initially planned to withdraw but has since decided to extend its deployment until the end of the year to combat militants. Additionally, 200 personnel will remain until March 2025 to address illegal maritime activities. Rwanda has also announced plans to bolster its 2,500-strong deployment, and Tanzania may keep 400-500 troops to secure the border.

These changes aim to mitigate the impact of the SADC mission's conclusion, but the exact framework for foreign troop operations remains unclear. Observers are concerned that the withdrawal of southern African troops might be premature.

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Other News

1️⃣ 🇲🇼 Malawi vice-President among those confirmed dead after plane crash: Malawi's Vice-President Saulos Chilima and nine others have died in a plane crash, President Lazarus Chakwera announced. The military plane carrying Chilima and former First Lady Shanil Dzimbiri to a funeral crashed in the Chikangawa forest, a mountainous region in northern Malawi. Air traffic controllers had advised the plane to return to Lilongwe due to bad weather at Mzuzu airport, but contact was lost, and the plane disappeared from radar. The crash killed seven passengers and three crew members.

2️⃣ 🇱🇧 🇮🇱 Unidentified missile hits North Lebanon, while the Israel-Hizbollah conflict in the south continues to escalate: A deadly day unfolded in Lebanon on Tuesday as the South Lebanon Water Board reported that one of its employees was killed in an Israeli strike in Naqoura. The board stated the employee was killed "while fulfilling his duty to ensure the continuity of the water supply in the city." According to local sources, 90 civilians have been killed by Israeli strikes since the war began in South Lebanon on October 8. Concurrently, during an Israeli raid on Hermel, a missile struck two houses in the Nabaa district of Fnideq, near the border between Akkar (North Lebanon) and Hermel. It remains unclear whether the missile was dropped by Israeli planes or if it was a Syrian interception missile fired from Syria.