Mozambique: Police ‘filtering’ those displaced by latest attacks, seeking rebels

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Mozambique: Police ‘filtering’ those displaced by latest attacks, seeking rebels

5:41 CAT | 26 Feb 2024

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

A wave of terrorist attacks in recent days in the district of Chiùre, in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, has displaced tens of thousands, but the national police force told Lusa on Monday that they are “filtering” these people, looking for insurgents among them.

“We are working with the communities, taking into account that we have to filter to be able to understand whether this group of returnees in the district of Chiùre has any infiltrators who may be associated with terrorism,” police spokesperson Aniceto Magome told Lusa this Monday.

A number of terrorist attacks in the south of Cabo Delgado have taken lives in villages in Chiùre in the last two weeks, leading to the flight of at least 13,000 people to Chiùre town alone. They are now concentrated in resettlement camps set up in three schools and the homes of relatives, according to a source from the local authority.

“The province of Cabo Delgado, at the moment, is in a relatively calm situation. Speaking specifically of the district of Chiùre, we would say that the situation is already under control, with Defence and Security Forces on the ground,” Aniceto Magome told Lusa from the provincial capital, Pemba.

He added that the population was cooperating, and that there was now “calm at district level”, notwithstanding a degree of uncertainty.

“Right now the situation is already calm, but the situation is always volatile. We have to take this into account and we cannot let our guard down. That’s why we are carrying out patrols to see if this situation prevails and we can control the enemy’s movements,” he added.

The PRM spokesperson for Cabo Delgado said that that the Defence and Security Forces were “working together” to try to restore “a feeling of security” to the population.

“We don’t have any special occurrences in other districts, but we will continue to maintain a high level of combat readiness to see that this situation prevails,” he added.

The extremist group Islamic State (IS) has claimed several attacks and fatalities in recent weeks, especially in the south of Cabo Delgado province, after a period of calm lasting of several months.

The province has been facing attacks claimed by IS for six years, which leading since July 2021 to a military response with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

On Thursday, President Filipe Nyusi said, in his second visit to Cabo Delgado in less than a month, that the new rebel incursions are the result of attempts by armed groups to recruit new members, noting that the province had registered “a lot of terrorist movement” this last month.

“They can no longer recruit in this province for many reasons, including the conscience [of residents], so they want to see if they can get away with bringing other members here (…). They wanted to take children and young people, and they were not happy,” President Nyusi declared after leading a government meeting in Pemba.

Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane meanwhile acknowledged the need for additional support to Cabo Delgado given the flight of thousands of people as a result of renewed attacks in the province, a situation that was creating “food problems”.

Source: Lusa