Mozambique attacks: Country never refused support, but Mozambicans must choose – PR

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique attacks: Country never refused support, but Mozambicans must choose – PR

7:12 CAT | 29 Apr 2021

Photo: O País

Mozambique’s President Nyusi said today (Thursday) that the country had never refused support, but must choose which types are best indicated, among those offered by friends and neighbouring countries, to fight the insurgency in Cabo Delgado.

According to President Nyusi, what is necessary is “the correct choice, by the Mozambicans, of the type of support” from “friends and neighbouring countries” in the face of the threat.

“We have never refused support, because we have stated several times that no country is capable of fighting terrorism alone,” he added.

“These actions involve the coast of the Indian Ocean, as well as migration control of the borders we share, joint efforts in different types of means and resources, including intelligence,” he stressed, and “will contribute to preventing radicalisation, terrorism and humanitarian disaster it entails”.

The idea was expressed by the head of state during his first visit to Cabo Delgado since armed attacks on Palma about a month ago.

President Nyusi presided over the launching ceremony of an emergency plan worth US$100 million (€82.6 million) supported by the World Bank to address the humanitarian crisis, and during his speech spoke of a “complete plan to disarm, defeat the terrorists and violent extremists, having as its main objective the return to normality in the affected districts”.

The plan would require “courage, determination, persistence and the necessary time” for “capacity building and modernisation of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS)” and the choice of external support.

Nyusi’s statement comes a day before Maputo hosts the Extraordinary Troika Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which will discuss the conflict in Cabo Delgado and support from neighbouring countries.

The meeting will consider the report of an SADC technical mission, proposing the deployment of 2,916 military personnel, over four phases, to help Mozambique in the fight against terrorist groups, plus the deployment of various other assets, including ships, helicopters and drones.

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 already caused more than 2,500 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and 714,000 people displaced, according to the Mozambican government.

The most recent attack, on March 24, was carried out against the town of Palma, causing dozens of deaths and injuries in numbers yet to be ascertained.

Mozambican authorities regained control of the town, but the attack led oil company Total to indefinitely abandon the main construction site of the gas project scheduled to start production in 2024 and on which many of Mozambique’s expectations for economic growth in the next decade are based.

Source: Lusa