Mozambique: 12 terrorist attacks in Ancuabe so far this month – AIM

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: 12 terrorist attacks in Ancuabe so far this month – AIM

5:23 CAT | 23 Jun 2022

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: O País]

This month jihadist terrorists have struck 12 times in Ancuabe district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, killing at least 16 people, reports the independent newssheet “Carta de Moçambique”.

Before 5 June, the jihadists had not appeared in Ancuabe, but on that day the terrorists attacked Nanduli village. Nanduli and nearby villages were abandoned, as frightened villagers sought safety in Ancuabe and Chiure towns, and in the provincial capital, Pemba. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) put this exodus at 11,000 people.

🚨#CaboDelgado🇲🇿
Attacks in Ancuabe district have forced more than 20,000 people – more than half of them children – to flee their homes. In response, @UNICEF_Moz, @wfp_mozambique and @IOM_Mozambique and partners @Helvetas and #SEPPA, are carrying out emergency distribution… pic.twitter.com/HmeWiFgVYr

— WFP Mozambique (@wfp_mozambique) June 21, 2022

The jihadists’ shift towards the southern part of Cabo Delgado, after suffering heavy losses in the northern districts, began on 31 May, in Quissanga district. Seeing terrorist groups moving southwards, the Mozambican defence and security forces set up a base in the northern part of Ancuabe, but the islamists bypassed the Mozambican units, and headed for Nanduli, where houses were burnt down, and one person was killed.

A woman was kidnapped, but later released. The jihadists told her to spread the message that they had arrived in Ancuabe. She said she had seen at least 60 terrorists while she was held prisoner.

The raiders also looted a farm next to one owned by former defence minister Alberto Chipande and beheaded one of the farm’s security guards.

ALSO READ: Cabo Delgado: Governor listens to reports in Mecufi district – Lusa

On 8 June, the Cabo Delgado provincial governor, Valige Tauabo, was at the Silva Macua crossroads in Ancuabe, where he told displaced people that it was safe to return home. But at the same time the jihadists attacked a site only 15 kilometres from the crossroads that is being developed by the graphite mining company Grafex, owned by the Australian firm Triton Minerals. Two security guards were beheaded.

A second Australian mining company, Syrah Resources, which operates a graphite concession in Balama district, 200 kilometres to the west, suspended all movements of its staff and equipment through Ancuabe for a week, although the suspension has now been lifted.

Work at the country’s largest solar power station at Metoro in Ancuabe came to a halt. This plant, which had been inaugurated recently, should generate 41 megawatts, but the majority shareholder, the French company Neoen evacuated all the staff as a security measure.

On 9 June, the terrorists killed an artisanal miner near Ntutupue village. On 11 and 13 June, there were two attacks on the village itself in which six people were murdered.

President Filipe Nyusi visited Ancuabe on 16 June, and insisted that the Mozambican forces were in control of the situation and it was safe for displaced people to return home. But two days later the villages of Nitwita, Nanoa and Macaia were attacked. Two people were killed, and many houses were burnt down. Two members of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the Mozambican Riot Police) were killed when their car was ambushed.

ALSO READ: Commander-in-Chief visits Northern Operational Theatre – Notícias

Tauabo has stuck to the line that the jihadists who have appeared in the southern districts of Cabo Delgado are fleeing from military defeat in the northern part of the province. Speaking on Wednesday, the Governor admitted that terrorist raids in areas that had previously been regarded as secure had provoked a further wave of population displacement, but the situation was now under control.

The attacks were the work of terrorists “on the run” from the offensives by the Mozambican forces and their allies from Rwanda and from the SADC military mission (SAMIM).

“The population of the districts affected by the attacks are continuing to return to their areas of origin, considering that they are now secure”, claimed Tauabo, cited by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

READ: Mozambique: New attacks in southern part of Cabo Delgado are the result of rebels fleeing – Governor

Source: AIM