Mozambique: Terrorism-related cases almost halved in 2022 – Attorney General

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Mozambique: Terrorism-related cases almost halved in 2022 – Attorney General

12:11 CAT | 20 Apr 2023

Photo: Notícias

The Attorney General of Mozambique said on Wednesday that criminal proceedings for terrorism in Mozambique saw a 52.3% reduction in 2022 when 169 cases were brought related to this type of offence.

In 2021, judicial authorities opened 354 criminal cases for terrorism, said Beatriz Buchili, speaking in parliament, where today and Thursday she is giving the annual information on the situation of legality and criminality in the country.

“The country continues to face attacks in some districts of Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa provinces, causing loss of life, destruction of infrastructure and displacement of populations from their usual places of residence,” Buchili stressed.

The chief prosecutor said that 145 people were in preventive detention for alleged practice of the crime of terrorism and 56 were free last year.

In 2022, a total of 89 criminal cases related to terrorism were in progress against unknown persons, according to the information from the Attorney General’s Office.

Also last year, four people were sentenced to between two and 20 years for involvement in terrorism, three defendants of Mozambican nationality and one Tanzanian.

“The prosecutor’s office said that foreigners entering the country under the pretext of being refugees or asylum seekers are more likely to be involved in crimes, including terrorism.

The Mozambican Attorney General also reported suspected transactions of financing terrorism, through financial institutions and mobile wallets, to districts ravaged by the action of armed groups in Cabo Delgado.

Buchili pointed to the existence of front business establishments owned by foreigners, through Mozambican intermediaries, in a scheme that may be feeding transnational organised crime.

On the alleged involvement of foreigners with terrorist groups, the Attorney General’s Office pointed to evidence of the involvement of Mozambican officials in the allocation of identification documents to expatriates without requirements.

These are practices that hamper “all the efforts made by the state to combat this crime, which puts people’s lives and the sovereignty of the state itself at risk,” Buchili said.

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for five years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.

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

Source: Lusa