The southern Africa regional bloc, SADC, has agreed to extend the presence of regional troops battling insurgents in northern Mozambique.

Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi confirmed the extension late Tuesday at the end of an extraordinary summit.

The first phase of the regional troop deployment was scheduled to end on 15 October.

The summit was called to assess the performance of the regional troops.

President Nyusi said that Mozambique was satisfied with the assessment made so far and that the situation had improved significantly in the affected areas.

The summit paid homage to three soldiers who died while on the mission in Mozambique. The three were from Tanzania and Botswana.