Government considers response to attacks in the north of Mozambique “adequate”

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Government considers response to attacks in the north of Mozambique “adequate”

12:29 CAT | 23 Jan 2018

TVM (File photo)

The Mozambican Interior Minister told Lusa on Monday that the Defence and Security Forces are making an “adequate response” to the armed attacks on villages in Cabo Delegado province, northern Mozambique.

“I want to emphasise that the appropriate response to these threats is being given,” Jaime Basílio Monteiro said, on the sidelines of a reception for the diplomatic corps in Maputo.

According to Minister Monteiro the incidents which took place after the October episodes in Mocímboa da Praia in two other districts of the same province cannot be considered attacks.

According to Monteiro, the distance between the incidents indicates that the aggressors are dispersing and that they are weakened, and that there had been assaults on commercial establishments, supposedly in search of supplies.

“What happened was not attacks, it was robberies and murders,” he said.

Incidents since December in Mocímboa da Praia, Nangade and Palma cost eight lives, including a member of the Mozambican police Rapid Intervention Unit.

“We are going to carry out actions to restore order there,” the Minister of the Interior said.

The US ambassador to Mozambique, Dean Pittman, said yesterday that the United States, which has natural gas interests in the province, had expressed concern about these cases and underscored its availability to help as much as it can.

“We are talking to the government to see if we can help stop this violence,” he said.

The attack by the apparently Islamist-inspired armed group on police stations in Mocímboa da Praia kept the village besieged for two days on October 4th and 5th last year, and since then there have been sporadic conflicts in the area.

Figures presented by a Mozambican police spokeswoman last week indicate that more than 300 people have been detained since October on suspicion of involvement in the violent episodes, whose authors and motivation remain unclear.

Source: Lusa