Mozambique: Villagers return home despite fear of insurgent attacks

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Mozambique: Villagers return home despite fear of insurgent attacks

2:49 CAT | 29 Apr 2024

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

The inhabitants of the village of Nanoa, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, are abandoning the district seat of Ancuambe and returning to the area that was attacked days ago due to the difficulties, even fearing new terrorist attacks, local sources told Lusa on Monday.

The movement back to the village of Nanoa, around six kilometres from the Ancuabe district headquarters, where they had fled the attacks of recent months, began last week due to a lack of food.

‘We’re returning to Nanoa, here in Ancuabe we have no support from anyone and that’s bad, we have children and sick people who can’t eat,’ people told Lusa.

‘We don’t know if everything is okay or not. We’ve seen the terrorists return two, three or more times to the places where they attacked and that could happen to us in Nanoa, so we’re afraid,’ another source added.

The recent attack by insurgents on the village of Nanoa – which led to dozens of families fleeing to the Ancuabe district headquarters – led to the destruction of the local primary school and a Catholic Church temple, and several houses were set on fire.

‘The terrorists have wreaked havoc, everything is destroyed, and we don’t know if we’ll have a school in the short term. And the most terrible thing is that they don’t have our children’s documents in the school. All the archives have been destroyed,’ lamented another source.

The rebel attack on the village of Nanoa, around 150 kilometres from the provincial capital, Pemba, took place on 19 April and destroyed public and private infrastructure, but no fatalities were reported.

‘When they came in, they destroyed a school and a church. They didn’t kill anyone, but we’re afraid of being attacked again,’ said the source.

The province has been facing an armed insurgency since October 2017, with attacks claimed by groups associated with Islamic State.

After several months of relative normality, several districts in Cabo Delgado have seen new movements and attacks by insurgent groups since December, which have also restricted traffic in some areas.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda, with more than 2,000 troops, and the Southern African Development Community, liberating districts near natural gas projects.

Source: Lusa