Women and children on the run from alleged armed group seek refuge with police – Mozambique

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Women and children on the run from alleged armed group seek refuge with police – Mozambique

1:37 CAT | 07 May 2018

File photo / For illustration purposes only

Mozambican police announced yesterday that they are sheltering three women in Nangade who had escaped from the hideout of one of the groups responsible for the armed attacks on villages in that part of Cabo Delgado province.

Also with them were at least three children, two of which have been taken to hospital.

According to a Mozambican television report, the three left their villages at the invitation of their husbands with a promise of a millionaire lifestyle in neighbouring Mocímboa da Praia, but were transported overnight in canoes to an unknown location in the jungle with a “barrack-like environment”, where their mobile phones were confiscated.

They had little food, and ate cassava stolen by men form nearby fields. Escape was difficult, they said, and about 200 women were still at the place.

Cabo Delgado has been the scene of sporadic clashes between alleged armed groups, security forces and the population, some of which have resulted in civilian casualties.

The main incident occurred in October 2017, when the village of Mocímboa da Praia was besieged by an armed group of alleged Islamic inspiration, but without clear leaders or declared motivation.

At the time, the population and religious leaders in the Montepuez area told Lusa that there were training camps in unknown locations to which residents were being taken.

Mozambique police have said that normality had been restored in the region and that criminal occurrences after October 2017 cannot automatically be attributed to the same group.

Source: Lusa