Cabo Delgado: New attack in Quiterajo; elections under threat in Macomia – CIP Eleições

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Cabo Delgado: New attack in Quiterajo; elections under threat in Macomia – CIP Eleições

12:48 CAT | 20 Sep 2019

Image: RM

A group of insurgents again attacked the population of the administrative post of Quiterajo, Macomia district, Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, reads a CIP Eleiçoes report issued yesterday, translated text below.

The attacks began on Wednesday around 7 p.m. and lasted until 4 a.m. Thursday (September 19). In about 10 hours, six people were murdered and ten kidnapped.

The attackers burned down the huts which had been built after the last attack on Quiterajo, on the 10th September, With their homes reduced to ashes, these families are again displaced.

The attackers’ main message is they do not want people to reside there, which means that there will be no elections in that region.

Quiterajo is one of four administrative posts of Macomia. The others are Chai, Macomia Sede (headquarters] and Mucojo).

While Chai and Macomia Sede are located inland, along main road N ° 308, Mucojo and Quiterajo are in the coastal area.

Mucojo and Quiterajo are the most populated regions in the district of Macomia and also the most devastated by attacks.

Macomia district has 53,000 people registered to vote in the October 15 elections. The district is to elect three of a total of 82 seats for the Cabo Delgado Provincial Assembly.

At the opening of the election campaign, Police General Commander Bernardino Rafael assured that the police would defend the attack zones to allow for quiet campaigning and voting. But since the campaign began 20 days ago, six attacks have been confirmed, an average of one attack every three days.

The population of Quiterajo is besieged in the coastal zone, unable to reach the village headquarters of Macomia, which is about 50 kilometres distant, inland.

The only alternative that the population has found to leave the region is to navigate the Indian Ocean using small fishing boats, to the north, until reaching the village headquarters of Mocimboa da Praia district.

Paradoxically, in this last attack, on Wednesday / Thursday, the insurgents set fire to the boats which the population uses to leave the area of the attacks.

The Government has not been assisting people move away from attack zones as it argues that the population should stay in the communities in exchange for the presence of defence and security forces in the villages. But the response from government forces has not stopped the attacks so far.

This attack came a day after Filipe Nyusi left Cabo Delgado, where he promised to wipe out the insurgents if reelected.

Source: CIP -Eleições -Boletim n.º 55 | 19.09.2019

Excellent report with solid original primary research in #CaboDelgado. Should be a game changer for our understanding of what is going on in Northern #Mozambique #war #insurgency #jihad #Africa @IESE1 https://t.co/NJr5qXj3Jk

— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) September 17, 2019