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Breaking: Mozambican government approves draft counter-terrorism law
9:27 CAT | 25 Oct 2017
The Mozambican government has approved a proposal for a law to combat terrorism, Council of Ministers spokeswoman Ana Comoana announced after a cabinet meeting in Maputo yesterday.
“What the government is creating is a specific instrument, given the characteristics of this crime and taking international practice into account,” she said.
The proposal was approved after two police and at least four other officials were killed by a group of Islamist radicals in armed attacks since the beginning of the month in the north of the country.
The group attacked several police stations in Mocímboa da Praia, Cabo Delgado province, in a two-day insurgency starting on October 5, and is suspected of another attack on a patrol in the bush in the 12th.
Comoana said that the law was already in preparation before these incidents, and that, despite a general approach to terrorism in the Mozambican penal code, the government considered it necessary to create a law prioritising “preventive measures”.
The law would “neutralise”, for example, “people who may join training” or finance terrorism-related actions, including through crimes such as money laundering or drug trafficking, she said.
Cited by Lusa news agency, the Mozambican government spokeswoman said that in some cases, the maximum penalty was expected to increase.
According to O País, the draft law on “the repression and combat to terrorism” to be submitted to the Assembly of the Republic aims to prevent and combat not only terrorism but also various related actions carried out in national territory.
O País reports that the draft law provides for the punishment of anyone committing, planning or preparing terrorist acts or participating in them, as well as for those who provide or receive training for terrorist purposes. The proposal also provides for punishment for individuals who travel or attempt to travel for the purpose of joining a terrorist organisation, including those who deliberately organise or facilitate such travel.
The Criminal Code classifies terrorism as a legal type of crime, O País reports, but it was thought necessary to pass a specific law establishing a legal framework for the prevention and combating of terrorist acts and punishment of its agents.
“The proposal also aims at establishing mechanisms for predicting, identifying and neutralising acts of terrorism and their agents and ensuring the implementation of international agreements and treaties on preventing and combating terrorism and related acts,” said Ana Comoana, cited by O País.
According to the same source, the government says that it was not the attacks against police positions in northern Mozambique that motivated the drafting of the anti-terrorism bill, and it would have been impossible for the Council of Ministers to prepare a draft law in the time since the first attacks in Mocímboa da Praia.
“It is a process that has been developing for a long time. This includes the [draft law] elaboration, harmonisation at the level of relevant institutions in the field, prior to its appreciation and approval by the Council of Ministers,” the spokeswoman added.
As was the case last week, Ana Comoana declined to answer questions about the government’s position on the attacks in Cabo Delgado and referred journalists to the Defence and Security Forces.
It should be noted that this week unidentified groups attacked police positions in Palma, the district in Cabo Delgado northern province where the Rovuma basin’s natural gas projects are located.
Also Read: Armed men attack in Ulumbi, Palma district – AIM report
Saide Bacar, a Muslim leader in Montepuez, told Lusa after the clashes in Mocímboa da Praia that the presence of an armed radical training camp near the village of Nhanhupo was suspected.
The suspicion is shared by residents of a village near Montepuez, which in the last year has lost 30 inhabitants to the alleged training camp.
Source: Lusa / O País
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