Just In: Dissident guerrilla leader claims attack that killed foreigner in central Mozambique – Watch

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Just In: Dissident guerrilla leader claims attack that killed foreigner in central Mozambique – Watch

2:28 CAT | 08 Apr 2020

File photo: Voa Portugues

The leader of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, Mariano Nhongo, has claimed, in remarks to journalists, the attack that killed a foreigner in Matarara village in central Mozambique on Monday.

“The government must resolve the Renamo [Mozambican National Resistance] problem. Without that, problems will only [get ]worse,” Nhongo told reporters by telephone, insisting that the guerrillas were carrying out his orders.

Nhongo threatened to destroy foreign investment and prevent “the plundering of forest and mining resources” by foreigners, to the detriment of local communities.

Seven armed men, two with machetes, invaded a timber yard and took workers hostage, demanding money and food before killing a Vietnamese national and setting seven vehicles and two bulldozers on fire.

Manica police spokesman Mário Arnaça said there had been a change in strategy, with an attack on a village in the interior rather the usual incursions on the main roads where the defence and security forces are concentrated.

Asked about the fact that the assault took place just a few kilometres from a military position, he said: “The enemy has its strategies, and we have ours.”

The armed attacks, Arnaça said, were concentrated on Gondola district in Manica province, and Nhamatanda and Gorongosa in Sofala, where the authorities were also “focussing their attention”.

“They took advantage of this occasion, and went to plan their actions in other areas,” Arnaca explained.

Although there were initially doubts about the nationality of the victim, police today confirmed that he was from Vietnam.

The attack follows others which have killed 23 people since August on roads and villages in the provinces of Manica and Sofala, where the Renamo dissident guerrillas led by Mariano Nhongo are operating.

The group has resorted to armed violence to negotiate better conditions for social reintegration than those agreed by its party with the Mozambican government in the August 2019 peace agreement.

The attack zone has been the scene of other incursions in the section connecting the north of the country with Inchope, an important junction with the EN6, being the road between Beira and Zimbabwe.

Source: Lusa / Voa Portugues