Cabo Delgado governor wants refugees to return

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Cabo Delgado governor wants refugees to return

11:03 CAT | 29 Jun 2018

Julio Parruque, governor of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado (In file CoM)

The governor of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, Julio Parruque, has tried to persuade, without success, displaced people on the island of Ibo to return to their homes on the mainland, reports Thursday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”.

Hundreds of people fled to Ibo in the wake of terrorist attacks on mainland villages, believed to be the work of the Islamic fundamentalist group known as Al-Sunnah or Al-Shabaab. Most of these displaced people are from the district of Macomia which has seen a string of terrorist attacks over the past month.

Addressing a rally on Ibo, Parruque suggested that these internal refugees should return to their home villages and resume their normal lives, in order to show the terrorists that the population is strong in the face of adversity.

“We shall resume production in our fields. We shall not allow the enemy to shake our production, our development”, insisted the governor.

The Cabo Delgado provincial police commander, Joaquim Sive, assured his audience that the defence and security forces are on the ground to ensure that the terrorists do not strike again. “Our forces are at all the strategic points to guarantee the protection and security of the public”, he said. “But it is important to stress that, in order to be safe in our villages, we need to be vigilant”.

But members of the audience told Paruque and Sive that they would only return to the mainland, if there was no risk of any further attacks. “How can we go home when armed men are attacking?”, asked one of the refugees, Chica Matanga. “We want to go back, but we’re afraid”.

Another man, Juma Mainda, pointed out he had no home left, since the terrorists had burnt it down. “I would like to return, but I’m afraid, and I don’t know how to restart my life, since my home has been destroyed”.

“Mediafax” also reports claims that the defence and security forces have captured 20 insurgents in the Macomia village of Mpraia, who were preparing to take a boat to another coastal village, Goludo.

It is said that the defence forces identified a spy for the insurgents in Mpraia who, under interrogation, gave away the plan to attack Goludo by boat.

In Maputo, the National Defence and Security Council (CNDS), an advisory body chaired by President Filipe Nyusi, met and discussed the situation in Cabo Delgado.

A statement issued by the CNDS on Wednesday urged the defence and security forces “to raise the level of security of the population and its property against the barbaric acts of the criminals, so as to guarantee a rapid return to normality in the affected areas.

It also urged the defence forces to assist members of the public in rebuilding their homes, and in establishing an environment of public order and security.

Source: AIM