Mozambique: Palma attack shows scale of fight against ‘international terrorism’

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Mozambique: Palma attack shows scale of fight against ‘international terrorism’

8:41 CAT | 27 Apr 2021

File photo: RM

Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, on Tuesday said that the attack on the village of Palma demonstrates the scale of the country’s challenge in the fight against international terrorism, considering that despite the violence, Mozambique enjoys stability.

“The recent attack on Palma, in the area where gas exploration projects are taking place, demonstrates the scale of the challenge that the country faces in the fight against international terrorism,” Filipe Nyusi said.

The Mozambican president was speaking during a virtual conference of heads of state and government of the PALOP (Portuguese-language countries) Forum.

The town of Palma, about six kilometres from the multinational Total’s natural gas project, suffered an armed attack on 24 March, causing dozens of deaths and injuries.

At the conference, Nyusi said that despite some pockets of instability caused by armed violence in Cabo Delgado, the country enjoys stability, and institutions are functioning normally.

“On behalf of Mozambicans, I have here to thank the support, humanitarian assistance and solidarity that the country has been receiving from international partners,” said Nyusi, pointing to armed attacks as one of the country’s major challenges.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has led to more than 2,500 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and 714,000 displaced people, according to the Mozambican government.

The Mozambican authorities have regained control of Palma. Still, the attack led oil company Total to abandon the gas project site indefinitely, with production due to start in 2024 and on which many of Mozambique’s expectations for economic growth in the next decade are anchored.

Source: Lusa