Mozambique: IS claims responsibility for 27 attacks on ‘Christian’ villages in Chiúre district

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Mozambique: IS claims responsibility for 27 attacks on ‘Christian’ villages in Chiúre district

1:10 CAT | 28 Feb 2024

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

The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for 27 attacks in recent days on what it said are “Christian” villages in the district of Chiùre, Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique, in which it says 70 people have died.

The group’s online propaganda channels, which document the attacks with photographs, also mention the destruction of 500 churches, houses and public buildings in the district, in the south of the province, according to statements seen by Lusa on Wednesday.

The Mozambique authorities are not commenting on the operational situation, but Lusa has heard reports from displaced people arriving in the town of Chiùre about attacks by the insurgents, destruction of hospitals, schools and houses, as well as deaths, in various villages in the district.

The governor of Cabo Delgado, Valige Tauabo, told Lusa on Monday that the “macabre” acts that have plagued the south of the province for a fortnight are being carried out by “small groups” of “violent extremists” but that he still believes in reconciliation.

Various attacks have taken place in villages in the southern districts of Cabo Delgado, especially in Chiùre district, after a long period since 2017 when the rebels’ activities had been concentrated in the centre and north of the province.

“There’s a small group scaring people in the communities and just hearing that it’s them, that it’s the extremists who are coming, creates panic in the villages,” the governor told Lusa in comments in Pemba, the provincial capital, referring to “macabre actions that are being carried out by violent extremists and that even lead to terrorism.

“In the south of the province, the actions that were carried out in the north and centre were not common,” Tauabo added, acknowledging that these attacks have caused “panic in the communities” -, especially in Chiùre.

“They’ve all become agitated,” he lamented. “And not for nothing.”

The local authority estimates that in recent days more than 13,000 people have fled to Chiùre, the last relatively safe refuge in the district, in a constant stream of newly displaced people who arrive after several days of walking.

The insurgent attacks in Cabo Delgado began in 2017 but, the governor recalled, from November 2022 many of the more than one million inhabitants who had moved from the north and centre to southern districts “seeking safety” began to return to their villages of origin.

“In 2023, there was already a sense of well-being, because the entire population that had left was already in their villages,” he recalled. “By the end of 2023, pockets began to appear, some niches, with interventions in the villages, but with a slightly different approach than in the past.”

In recent months, Mozambique’s president, Filipe Nyusi, has publicly reiterated his call for young Mozambicans allegedly recruited by these groups to return to their communities, guaranteeing that they will be welcomed back.

That reconciliation, the governor believes, is necessary to allow the return of the “many” young men who he said were “forced to join” the insurgent groups.

“It’s very strong, especially when it comes from the head of state,” he said of Nyusi’s call. “We’ve also noticed that many have given up and it was during that period when there was nothing.”

He expresed the belief that there is still a “last group of young people” with the militants who will not accept this olive branch from the authorities.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been plagued by an armed insurgency for more than six years, with reponsibility for some attacks claimed by a local affiliate of IS. The authorities’ military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has succeeded in liberating districts near natural gas projects.

The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to data from United Nations agencies, and claimed around 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa