Journalists confirm withdrawal from 2 military positions in Gorongosa – AIM

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Journalists confirm withdrawal from 2 military positions in Gorongosa – AIM

12:19 CAT | 06 Jul 2017

Lusa (File photo) / For illustration purposes only

At least two of the eight military positions in the Gorongosa Mountains in the central province of Sofala in Mozambique, where Renamo’s Afonso Dhlakama is living, have already been deactivated, a team of journalists from various media outlets confirmed on Wednesday.

Dhlakama has been a refugee in the forests of Gorongosa district, central Sofala province, since October 2015.

The two positions in question are Nhariroza, in the administrative post of Kanda, and Lourenço, in Nhandar. The military that had been assigned to both positions were withdrawn to Satungira barracks, one of the Defence and Security Forces’ largest in Gorongosa.

Satungira was, in the past, a Renamo stronghold, but the region was overtaken by the Defence and Security Forces in late 2014.

Renamo, the largest opposition party in Mozambique, has not demanded the withdrawal of the forces stationed at Satungira, settling for the departure of the military stationed at eight positions in the Gorongosa Mountain during the political-military conflict that broke out in late 2015.

Renamo’s demands stem from the truce resulting from the dialogue between President Filipe Nyusi and the Renamo leader, and aimed at restoring effective peace in Mozambique.

Wandy Wan Bedford, commander of the Defence and Security Forces in Gorongosa, said on Wednesday that the two positions the journalists visited housed 200 soldiers, 120 in Nhariroza and the remainder in Lourenço-Nhandar. All were withdrawn to Satungira.

He said that Nhariroza served as a logistics base for all the Renamo armed forces. It was considered an advanced base, and was taken by the FDS in May 2016. The same happened with the area of Lourenço.

“This is one of the positions we took during our fight against Renamo. It was a logistics base we took in May 2016. As you can see, soon after June 26 when the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence and Security Forces gave orders, we started moving soldiers to Satungira. A hundred and twenty men have already left the area,” he explained.

Bedford explained that Lourenco was also a Renamo supply corridor. “This route went to the Moromboza waterfalls, so it was important to occupy the area. But when we received the order, we deactivated the position. Some soldiers went to their units of origin and others were integrated into Satungira. As you can see, there are no soldiers there now,” Bedford said.

The journalists spent the night in the Satungira barracks, which is located about 30 kilometres from Gorongosa village. On the second day of their tour, tomorrow, the journalists will visit the Mapanga-Panga and Nhautchenge positions.

AIM – 06.07.2017

By Nestor Magado in Gorongosa (AIM collaboration)

Source: AIM Moçambique