Mozambique: Terrorists take control of Mucojo – AIM report

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Mozambique: Terrorists take control of Mucojo – AIM report

6:29 CAT | 24 Jan 2024

File photo: DW

Islamist terrorists on Sunday night seized control of the Mucojo administrative post, in Macomia district, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to a report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Mucojo is about 40 kilometres from the district capital, Macomia town, and has seen several clashes between government forces and terrorist groups in recent weeks.

The terrorists appear to have changed tactics, and one local source reported them as saying they only wanted “to confront the soldiers” and not the civilian population.

Another local resident did not believe that terrorist promises are worth much. “Although they said they don’t want anything to do with the population, we are afraid”, he said. “It was like this previously, but then they attacked us”.

Last Thursday, some terrorists raided stalls in Mucojo and stole food. “They take goods and don’t pay for them, and then they ask us to stay here and not be afraid of them”, said a local fisherman, Amisse Chale.

On Tuesday night, a terrorist group appeared in Quissanga district, but did not kill or injure anybody.

The Quissanga district administrator admitted that terrorists had entered the district, but believes that the presence of Mozambican forces in the area may have discouraged them.
“There has been a peaceful atmosphere here in Quissanga over the last few days”, a worker at the local health centre said. “But on Tuesday night, some people saw strange men on the outskirts of Mussomero village and alerted the whole community. The information also ended up reaching Quissanga town. We all panicked and ran for our lives”.

According to Brito Simango, a prominent journalist on Mozambican Television (TVM), writing on his Facebook page, the terrorists who entered Quissanga had come from Mucojo.

The government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Filimao Suaze, at a Tuesday press briefing in Maputo, after the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), declined to give any details about the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado, or the recent resurgence of kidnappings.

He said little beyond “It’s a concern. We are working on it”. He justified the government’s silence by the need to protect “operational questions”.

“When we believe we have information to share, we shall do so”, he promised.

Source: AIM