Mozambique: Inhabitants denounce insurgents in Macomia with local backing
File photo: Lusa
Students at Bilibiza Agrarian Institute, the only technical secondary school in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, will attend classes at other institutions in the region after attacks by armed groups on the institute’s facilities.
Of the total, “300 students will be transferred to the Ocua Technical school and another 150, who are new entrants, will be welcomed at the Escola Agrária de Balama,” Rogério Jaime, Provincial Director of Science, Technology, Technical and Professional Training, told ‘O País’ yesterday.
The transfer date of the students has not yet been decided, the director said.
Students will study in the southern part of Cabo Delgado, further from the districts affected by attacks by the armed groups that set fire to the institute’s buildings and vehicles on January 29, during a raid on several villages.
Bilibiza Agrarian Institute is run by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) under an agreement signed with the Mozambican government in 2014, and has been introducing new agricultural techniques, in addition to carrying out infrastructure projects.
Portugal is another partner country.
Armed attacks broke out in 2017 in the province of Cabo Delgado allegedly led by mosque-goers considered as having been “radicalised” by foreigners, according to local Islamic leaders who had previously warned of growing friction.
There has never been a claim of responsibility for the attacks, except for communiqués from the ‘jihadist’ Islamic State group which, since June, has been claiming some of them, with alleged photographs of the actions, but whose presence on the ground experts and authorities consider hardly credible.
The attacks have already claimed at least 350 deaths, and 156,400 people have experienced loss of property or been forced to abandon their homes and land in search of safety, in a province rich in natural gas, with related extraction mega-projects anticipated.
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