Mozambique: Farmers fearful after reported terrorist sightings in Metuge

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Mozambique: Farmers fearful after reported terrorist sightings in Metuge

7:27 CAT | 19 Jul 2024

File photo: Integrity

Smallholder farmers in Metuge district, Cabo Delgado province, this Wednesday reported to Lusa the movement of what they suppose to be groups of armed terrorists in agricultural production areas [‘machambas’].

Community sources indicated that this movement began around 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, in the Nampipi machambas, around 100 kilometres from the Metuge headquarters village, when a group of farmers accompanied by hunting dogs were scaring animals away from the crops.

“We were chasing away animals, I’m talking about monkeys, ‘sanguins’, even pigs, so they don’t come near our fields, because they destroy the crops. Then we saw a group of men, some holding weapons. It was strange because we are talking about a forest, far from any villages,” one source reported.
The peasants carried on and the passage of these groups did not provoke any attack, but out of fear some people have abandoned agricultural activities, especially the ongoing sesame harvest, opting instead for refuge in the district headquarters.

“They didn’t kill anybody, but as you know they are unpredictable. That’s why some of us wanted to abandon Nampipi, out of fear,” another source explained.

Farmers in Walopwana, also in the interior of Metuge, reported similar incidents.

Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado has faced an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist Islamic State group.

The last major attack took place on May 10 and 11, on Macomia district headquarters, with around 100 insurgents looting the town, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambique Defence and Security Forces.

The population of other districts of the province has reported the movement of these groups of insurgents, who cause panic as they pass through the forests at a time when peasants are trying to harvest crops.

President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi on June 16 stated that the action of the various defence forces made it possible to eliminate “practically all” the bases of terrorist groups operating in Cabo Delgado, who are now limited to “walking around in the bush”.

“The result of this combination of forces is surprising. They managed to disable the terrorists in all the towns and villages that had been occupied, destroyed practically all of the enemy’s fixed bases, turning them into nomads, and put many violent extremists out of combat, including some of their main leaders,” President Nyusi said in Mueda, Cabo Delgado province.

The head of state recognized the efforts of the Mozambique Armed Defence Forces, together with the Rwandan military, the mission from southern African countries and the ‘local force’ of former national liberation struggle combatants.

“They are out there in the bush, but they no longer stay in one place because they are afraid of being found,” the president said, renewing his appeal to the population “to continue to reinforce surveillance “.

Source: Lusa