Mozambique: Authorities intercept 21 youngsters allegedly recruited by armed rebels

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Mozambique: Authorities intercept 21 youngsters allegedly recruited by armed rebels

12:34 CAT | 05 Dec 2022

FILE - The police spokesman said that the young people had come from the districts of Memba, Mossuril and Nacala, in Nampula province. [File photo: Miramar]

The authorities in Mozambique have intercepted 21 young people who were travelling from the northern province of Nampula to Cabo Delgado that they suspect had been recruited by armed insurgents, the force announced on Friday.

The spokesman for the national police in Nampula province, Zacarias Nacute, said that the youngsters were travelling in a truck to Mocímboa da Praia district, where they were supposed to work in fishing and mining, when they were stopped by the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) and “held up at the provincial police command” for investigation.

“After operative and investigative work, we believe they were lured into joining terrorist groups in Cabo Delgado,” Nacute said.

Some members of the group “were aware that they were going to join the terrorists,” he added, without giving details.

The police spokesman said that the young people had come from the districts of Memba, Mossuril and Nacala, in Nampula province.

Among “terrorists” killed by government forces in recent times were many young people from that region, he noted. Others have surrendered to the authorities when they managed to escape from the armed groups, after being “seduced with promises of jobs and forced to commit atrocities,” he added.

Nacute said that the 21 young people would be “returned” to their areas of origin because “there is no criminal evidence, but only suspicions of grooming.”

He said that the work of the defence and security forces has resulted in a decrease in the recruitment of young people from Nampula province by insurgents.

“When the terrorist actions started in Cabo Delgado, we used to catch about twenty young people per week enticed by the terrorists, travelling to Cabo Delgado,” he said. “Now, such cases occur every two to three months.”

Cabo Delgado province has faced an armed insurgency for five years with responsibility for some attacks claimed by the local affiliate of the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has prompted a military response from the authorities since July 2021 that is now backed by forces from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This has made possible the liberation of districts near natural gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged south of that region and in neighbouring Nampula province.

The conflict has left some 1 million people displaced, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and about 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa