Mozambique: Police must step up operations against terrorism – Nyusi | AIM report

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Mozambique: Police must step up operations against terrorism – Nyusi | AIM report

7:04 CAT | 17 May 2021

Photo. O País

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Saturday called on the defence and security forces to step up their operations against the terrorist groups operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and against the dissident “Renamo Military Junta” in the centre of the country.

Nyusi gave these instructions to a group of senior police officers, who came to his office to greet him on the occasion of National Police Day, which marks the anniversary of the creation of the first Mozambican police force on 17 May 1975.

“We urge the police, in coordination with the other defence and security forces to persist in the struggle against terrorism and against the armed actions of the Renamo Military Junta, so that peace may be re-established in those regions of the country”, said Nyusi.

It was urgent to strengthen coordination between the various forces, he added, in order to obtain the best possible operational results – but without neglecting measures to protect the most vulnerable people in the conflict areas.

He urged the police force to reflect upon its history, and identify the steps that still need to be taken to face today’s challenges. Police training should be improved, including specialization in areas needed to face new forms of organised crime.

“These actions should start with the criteria for joining the police”, said Nyusi. In selecting future police officers “priority should be given, above all, to the spirit of serving the motherland”.

The rich experience of the police over the past 46 years “should serve as the basis for new, and joint approaches to strengthen increasingly complex operations, demanded in the fight against organized crime, terrorism, the trafficking in people and in drugs, and money laundering”, he said.

Nyusi warned that Mozambican society is becoming increasingly demanding as regards the protection and guarantees of its fundamental rights. The defence and security forces, he added, should be implacable in the fight against crime, so citizens can feel tranquil and protected, wherever they are in the country.

The General Commander of the Mozambican police, Bernadino Rafael, claimed there has been a reduction in levels of crime. He said the police recorded 16,235 crimes in 2020, compared with 18,164 in 2019, a reduction of almost nine per cent.

In the first quarter of 2021, Rafael added, the police registered 3,788 crimes, compared with 4000 in January-March 2020.

Rafael said the police is celebrating its 46th anniversary in a period of “great social adversity”, presenting the force with unprecedented challenges. But at no time did the difficulties cause the police to shrink from its duty. “On the contrary, they awoke in us the need to improve our strategies, and our capacity to intervene”, he declared.

“The fight against crime and other social ills, in the context of preventing the spread of the Covid-10 pandemic, challenges us to realign constantly our strategies, so that police intervention does not endanger the exercise of the rights of citizens”, Rafael added.