Mozambique: Private airline company resumes Pemba – Palma flights

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Mozambique: Private airline company resumes Pemba – Palma flights

5:54 CAT | 17 Oct 2022

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

The private airline Fly Índico today announced the resumption of flights linking Pemba and Palma, in Cabo Delgado, an air link interrupted following armed attacks by rebels in northern Mozambique.

“The link will be resumed from November 28 and we intend to make at least two flights a week, on Mondays and Fridays,” Alfrad Venichand, Fly Indico’s bookings assistant, told Lusa today.

The link, interrupted following the rebel attack on Palma in March 2021, will be made by a Cessna Caravan aircraft, with capacity for 10 passengers, said the same source from the Mozambican airline company.

“We were already doing this route [previously]. In fact, in one of the attacks in Palma, we helped the authorities to remove some people. We feel that there is security now and we will resume operations,” added Alfred Venichand.

Palma was the target of one of the most notorious attacks carried out by the rebels that terrorised Cabo Delgado province five years ago, when on 24 March 2021 the insurgents invaded the district’s headquarters, causing dozens of deaths and injuries, as well as the flight of thousands of people.

The district hosts the natural gas exploration project led by TotalEnergies, the largest private investment in Africa (around 20 billion euros), which has since been suspended due to insecurity in the region.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has led to a military response since a year ago with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects, but new waves of violence have emerged south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.

In five years, the conflict has left one million people displaced, according to the UNHCR, and around 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa