Government team to visit Tanzania to discuss terror suspects – Mozambique

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Government team to visit Tanzania to discuss terror suspects – Mozambique

10:09 CAT | 24 Oct 2018

Ruvuma river. Map: BBC

The spokesperson for the General Command of the Mozambican police, Inacio Dina, on Tuesday told reporters that the government will shortly send a team to Tanzania following the arrests by Tanzanian police of people who intended to cross the border into Mozambique to join the islamist insurgency in parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Last Friday the Tanzanian Inspector General of Police, Simon Sirro, announced that 104 criminals had been arrested who were planning to cross into Mozambique and set up terrorist bases.

Dina said the number of arrests in Tanzania has now risen to 132. “We are in contact with Tanzania”, he added. “What we are doing now is speaking with the Tanzanians to understand these detentions better and what the people arrested intended to do”.

The Mozambican team sent to Tanzania will seek to ascertain whether there are any Mozambican citizens among those detained.

Dina said this exchange of information arises from the good relations between Mozambique and Tanzania. The two countries have signed security agreements, which particularly cover policing the border.

“In terms of the exchange of information, we are at a very advanced level”, Dina continued. “Cooperation in the area of protection and security is continuing. We hope that the squeeze against criminals on the Tanzanian side will continue, and on the Mozambican side this work is already being done”.

A low level insurgency has been underway in parts of Cabo Delgado since October 2017, focused particularly on Mocimboa da Praia district, but also spilling into the neighbouring districts of Macomia, Palma and Nangade.

The insurgents have killed at least 90 people and burnt down 1,065 houses in attacks against defenceless villages, according to the Mozambican police. In a clear imitation of Middle Eastern terrorist groups, such as the self-styled “Islamic State”, they have often beheaded their victims.

In the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba, the trial is continuing of 189 people suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. The accused are 152 Mozambican citizens, 29 Tanzanians and three Somalis. 42 of them are women.

Given the large number of accused, it is taking the court a long time to interrogate all of them. So far, according to the spokesperson for the Cabo Delgado Provincial Court, Zacarias Napatima, cited in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, 50 of the accused have been heard. He expected the trial to end in early 2019.

The accused have so far denied all involvement in the crimes of which they are accused, which include first degree murder, use of banned weapons, membership of a criminal association, and instigation of collective disobedience against public order.

“Faced with the charges, the accused are free to say whatever they like”, said Napatima, “but it is the evidence collected that will determine the level of involvement of each of these people”.

Source: AIM