Congolese authorities pledge support against extremists – Mozambique

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Congolese authorities pledge support against extremists – Mozambique

9:38 CAT | 05 Jun 2018

Dieudonné Amuli Bahigwa, Simon Nyankoro Siro and Bernardino Rafael in Luanda. Notícias

The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have offered to assist the Mozambican defence and security forces in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, reports Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

The general commander of the Congolese police, Dieudonne Amuli, expressed this interest to his Mozambican counterpart, Bernadino Rafael, when the two men were attending a meeting of the police commanders of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region in Luanda.

Also attending this meeting was the general commander of the Tanzanian police, Simon Nyankoro Siro. Mozambique already has an agreement with Tanzania to fight Islamic extremism in Cabo Delgado.

“Mozambique has had this problem for eight months”, said Rafael. “The DRC has had it for two years, and Tanzania for about a year and a half. We had a first meeting in Luanda, where each of the states understood better what is happening with this phenomenon. A second meeting will take place shortly, so we can align our position to better fight against these criminals”.

Mozambicans are known to have been recruited to wage “jihad” in the DRC, because three of them were captured by the Congolese army and repatriated to Mozambique in March. The three men were all from Cabo Delgado and said they had been enticed by people they described as “Tanzanian and Burundian sheikhs” who promised them scholarships to study at a madrassa (Koranic school) in Tanzania. But in fact, they ended up in a military base in Congo, fighting against the Congolese authorities.

They said they left Mozambique in August 2017 – this was two months before the islamist uprising in Cabo Delgado began with attacks on police installations in the district of Mocimboa da Praia.

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One of those repatriated, 34 year old Abduremane Ali used to be a fisherman in the Cabo Delgado district of Macomia. He told reporters a Tanzanian sheikh had promised him a monthly wage of 30,000 meticais (about 485 US dollars) to study the Koran and to undergo military training.

“They just told me it was to wage jihad, that is, to fight against the government”, he said. “They gave me a passport and I went by car to Tanzania, and then onto a training camp in Congo”.

“When I reached the base, they took the passport, my cell phone and the money I had in my pocket”, Ali continued. “I was captured on the day the Congolese armed forces attacked our base, and some Mozambicans who had been recruited earlier lost their lives in this action”.

The cross-border nature of this Islamic terrorism is also clear from the fact that 32 Tanzanians are among those arrested in Cabo Delgado and are now currently awaiting trial.

Rafael said that Mozambicans who ended up in the DRC were “enticed” with promises of Koranic education or other religious inducements. Other went to Tanzania, after they were promised jobs and a better life.

He recalled a case where people in the coastal district of Memba, in Nampula province, were recruited supposedly to work in fishing, but they were really being sent to join the ranks of the jihadists.

Rafael urged Mozambican families “to make your sons aware that they should not accept this sort of recruitment”. They should not believe in promises of jobs, or that they would become religious leaders.

“This enticement is dangerous”, he said, “and its sole purpose is to pit brother against brother”.

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Source: AIM