Government “will not rest” until restoration of order in Cabo Delgado – AIM report

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Government “will not rest” until restoration of order in Cabo Delgado – AIM report

8:05 CAT | 09 Mar 2020

Photo: Presidência da República de Moçambique

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi pledged on Thursday that the government and the defence and security forces “will not rest” until order, security and social stability have been restored in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the Police Sciences Academy (ACIPOL), on the outskirts of Maputo, Nyusi declared “this ceremony is taking place at a special moment when the acts of insurgents are continuing to claim lives in some districts of Cabo Delgado”.

Terrorist raids by insurgent bands believed to be inspired by islamic fundamentalism began in October 2017 in Mocimboa da Praia district, and subsequently spread to other districts in the north of the province. The insurgents have left a trail of burning villages and have killed hundreds of people. None of the leaders of the insurgency have ever showed their faces, and nor have they published any manifesto or set of demands.

Nyusi insisted that the government’s forces will continue to fight against this faceless foe. The insurgents’ actions, he said, are a brake on the development of Cabo Delgado, and so rapid and definitive solutions must be found to return order and security to the province.

To ensure success in this struggle, he added, the government is counting on the collaboration of all vital forces in Mozambican society, as well as the international community.

He told the police officers who graduated from the course that security is a goal of any State ruled by law, and it is the police, as the most visible agents of social control, who must ensure the preservation, or restoration, of order and social peace.

“The democracy we are building in our country presupposes freedom, security and lasting peace”, Nyusi declared. “The first civic freedom in the Republic of Mozambique is security”.

Police activity within the law, he added, represents “the triumph of the rule of law over private justice”.

The police, Nyusi continued, “are the eyes of the State to detect anomalies and suspect behaviour in society”. He called for permanent linkages between the police and the community, as a fundamental factor for building a country where order, security and public tranquillity reign.

He called for a fight against corruption at all levels, and urged the graduates to end the perception in society that citizens can only enrol for ACIPOL courses by paying bribes, or though nepotism.

“In order to consolidate the culture of transparency, accountability and responsibility at all levels of the public administration, we shall continue to demand integrity and professional ethics form state agents and staff”, he declared.

The main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has offered to assist the government in its struggle against the Cabo Delgado terrorists.

According to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, the Renamo General Secretary, Andre Majibire, speaking on Thursday at the opening of a meeting of Renamo Maputo cadres, said the party is willing to share its knowledge to help overcome the insurgency.

“We want to express our total openness in contributing with our knowledge in the search for peace throughout the national territory”, he said. He did not specify what type of support he had in mind.

Source: AIM