The governing board of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, its Standing Commission, on Tuesday decided to table for debate at the next full parliamentary sitting the question of foreign military support in the fight against terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The main opposition party, Renamo, had submitted a request for the Standing Commission to call an extraordinary sitting of the Assembly exclusively to discuss the foreign military presence in Cabo Delgado.

However, the Standing Commission decided that the matter could simply be put on the agenda for the next ordinary sitting, which is due to begin in the second half of October.

Renamo had accused President Filipe Nyusi of violating the Constitution by inviting foreign troops into the country without the prior approval of the Assembly. There have been clashes on Mozambican social media as to whether Nyusi did indeed violate the Constitution – but these have become somewhat academic since the first foreign contingent to go into battle against the terrorists, a force of 1,000 men from Rwanda, has enjoyed considerable success.

Mozambican and Rwandan forces have taken the key town of Awasse in Mocimboa da Praia district, and seem poised to advance on the district capital itself, which has been in terrorist hands for over a year. Under these circumstances, nobody wants the Rwandans to withdraw.

The spokesperson for the Standing Commission, Alberto Matukutuku, told reporters, that all three parliamentary groups (from the ruling Frelimo Party. Renamo and the second opposition force, the Mozambique Democratic Movement) had agreed to postpone discussion of the presence of foreign troops to the next ordinary sitting – which is over two months away.

Matukutuku said the parliamentary groups had all encouraged the Mozambican defence and security forces to continue defending the country against terrorist aggression.

There was no longer any talk about whether the invitation to the foreign troops had been constitutional. Instead, according to Matukutuku, Frelimo, Renamo and the MDM all expressed their support for the presence of the foreign contingents.

This apparent unanimity did not last long. The Renamo parliamentary group called a press conference on Wednesday morning to denounce Matukutuku’s statements. Renamo spokesperson Venancio Mondlane denied there has been any consensus. He said Renamo still wanted an extraordinary sitting of the Assembly, and insisted that the invitation to the foreign forces was illegal.

Mondlane said it made no sense to wait until October to discuss the matter, which he regarded as urgent.

Meanwhile, troops of the Standby Force of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are beginning to arrive in Mozambique and are expected to total around 3,000. The largest contingent will be 1.495 troops from South Africa.

Doubts about Tanzania’s commitment to the anti-terrorist operation were dispelled when a Tanzanian cargo plane (a Yaklov Y8) landed in the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba, on Sunday to unload vehicles and other military equipment. The details of this equipment have not been made public.

It is hardly coincidental that Tanzanian President Samia Hassan began a state visit to Rwanda on Monday, and the war in Cabo Delgado will certainly have been on the agenda for the talks with her Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame.

Journalists have noted heavy military activity at Pemba airport, with the presence of helicopters from the South African, Botswanan and Rwandan air forces.