FADM Deputy Chief of Staff says IDPs will soon return to Mocimboa, comments on Amnesty report – Watch

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FADM Deputy Chief of Staff says IDPs will soon return to Mocimboa, comments on Amnesty report – Watch

3:19 CAT | 10 Mar 2021

Screen grab: TVM

The FADM Deputy Chief of Staff has said that Amnesty International’s report regarding the relationship between the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) and the population in the Northern Operational Theatre obscured the truth.

According to Bertolino Capetine, it was never the FDS’s purpose to torture or murder the population of Cabo Delgado, saying that residents of Mocimboa da Praia would soon return there.

“At no time could we mistreat the community because we are here to defend society and ensure that the economy flows in the best possible way,” said the FADM deputy chief of general staff, Bertolino Capitine, on Sunday during a meeting with journalists in Mueda, Cabo Delgado and quoted today by Radio Mozambique.

“Regrettably, the report was issued, probably by people who were never here,” he said.

Capitine also denied that Mozambique had used the services of the Dick Advisory Group (DAG).

“If anyone has evidence,” he added, “they must prove” the allegations.

“We are capable, we have enough resources to fly a plane, and we are not new to this issue,” he concluded.

Also read: South African company to investigate after Amnesty says it shot at civilians in Mozambique

Speaking about ongoing actions in the Northern Operational Theatre, Bertolino Capetine stressed that the return of the population to their areas of origin would follow on the reopening of the road between Pemba and the village of Palma, through Mocímboa da Praia.

“We are going to determine the time and the moment when the circulation will be restored, and the media will be invited to witness this great act. It is only after that that we will tell government authorities to invite the communities to return to Mocímboa, because it is in the interest of the Mozambican state to see Mocímboa re-established and doing what it has always done,” he said.

The Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the FADM again reiterated that the village of Mocímboa da Praia was not under terrorist control.

Source: TVM / Lusa / Rádio Moçambique