Mozambique: Police confirm clash with terrorists at Quitunda – AIM report

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Mozambique: Police confirm clash with terrorists at Quitunda – AIM report

4:19 CAT | 05 Jan 2021

Photo: Social Media

The Mozambican police have confirmed a clash between the police and terrorist infiltrators on New Year’s Day in the resettlement town of Quitunda, in Palma district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

According to Cabo Delgado police spokesperson Ernesto Madungue, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, the islamist terrorists were infiltrating armed men into Quitunda in preparation for an attack.

Quitunda is a new town built to house people resettled from the areas of the Afungi Peninsula where a consortium headed by the French oil and gas company Total is building natural gas liquefaction plants.

Madungue said that, when the police discovered the terrorist infiltration, they went to the house where the infiltrators were hiding. They were met with shots, and returned fire. In this clash, according to Madungue, one terrorist informant was killed and a policeman was injured. He is now received medical care in the local health unit.

“The terrorists tried to introduce their informants into Palma district, in order to create an attack situation”, the police spokesman said. “The police became aware that they were in three houses in Quitunda. The police organised their teams to deal with the situation, and when they reached the place, they were received with gunshots. The police felt obliged to open fire, and a supposed terrorist informant was killed”.

Madungue said the defence and security forces remain on the ground in Quitunda, and that the situation is now calm.

Madungue’s statements confirm the essentials of the story on the Quitunda incident published by the newsheet “Mediafax” on Monday. The only significant difference is that “Mediafax” put the number of terrorists killed at two rather than one.

The exchange of gunfire occurred about three kilometres from Total’s Afungi camp. Because of security fears, Total has been evacuating staff from Afungi. Some have been flown to the provincial capital, Pemba, while others have been withdrawn to Palma town.

A statement from Total, cited by the independent newsheet “Carta de Mocambique”, said that “given the evolution of the security situation in Cabo Delgado province and in Palma district”, the company had decided “to reduce the number of staff present at the project site in Afungi. The demobilisation is under way in an organised manner and in accordance with the established protocols”.

Total added that it is “following the developing security situation in northern Mozambique with the greatest attention, together with the Mozambican authorities, and is taking all measures necessary to guarantee the security and protection of its staff and those of its sub-contractors”.

Disinformation appeared on Mozambican social media, attacking those reporters who wrote about the security situation in Palma, and claiming that the real reason for the Total evacuation was an outbreak of the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

But the latest Total statement does not mention Covid-19. Furthermore, when asked about the Afungi outbreak at a Maputo press conference on Monday, Sergio Chicumbe, the Director of Surveys at the National Health Institute (INS), said it took place in November, and had been brought under control. Currently, there are only seven active Covid-19 cases in the Afungi camp.