Mozambican Islamic Council condemns armed violence in Cabo Delgado

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Mozambican Islamic Council condemns armed violence in Cabo Delgado

1:47 CAT | 15 Apr 2020

Photo: O País

The Islamic Council of Mozambique yesterday condemned the incursions of the armed groups carrying out attacks in Cabo Delgado, reiterating that these acts are not linked to the commandments of Islam.

“We strongly condemn the barbaric acts of those groups. The acts of these groups are not tolerated in Islam,” provincial delegate of the Islamic Council in Nampula, Juma Cadria, told a press conference.

Cadria noted that, when the incursions began in October 2017, the Islamic Council of Mozambique informed the authorities of the existence of some people with ideologies contrary to the commandments of Islam.

“Our delegates reported the existence of individuals with ideologies contrary to religion and individuals with a tendency to violence,” Cadria said, adding that the authorities in Cabo Delgado did not have the flexibility to act in a timely manner.

Cadria said he considered the members of the armed groups “very ignorant in religion”, and that the groups would never be able to “establish a state guided by the principles of the Koran”.

Cabo Delgado province has been the target of attacks by armed groups which international organisations classify as a terrorist threat and which, in the past two-and-a-half years, have killed at least 350 people, as well as subjecting 156,400 people to loss of property and forced exile from their homes and fields.

At the end of March, the towns of Mocímboa and Quissanga were invaded by a group which destroyed infrastructure and hoisted their flag over a Defence and Security Forces barracks.

In a video distributed on the Internet at the time, an alleged jihadist militant justified the attacks as the prelude to imposing Islamic law in the region. This was the first message released by the alleged authors of the attacks, and was supposedly recorded in one of the villages they invaded.

Source: Lusa