Mozambican police prevent 70 youths from travelling for fear of recruitment by armed groups

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Mozambican police prevent 70 youths from travelling for fear of recruitment by armed groups

1:29 CAT | 09 Mar 2020

File photo. RFi

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in the province of Nampula, in the north of the country, stopped a group of 70 youths from continuing their trip to Cabo Delgado province on the suspicion that they were going to join armed groups there.

STV channel has today shown an interview with the young men, who were taken to the PRM provincial command in Nampula, some of whom told journalists they were travelling in a truck to Cabo Delgado to look for job opportunities, when they were stopped by the police and taken into custody.

Addressing the young people, Secretary of State for the province of Nampula, Mety Gondola, justified the police action by saying that the circumstances of their trip to Cabo Delgado were “strange”.

“There is no problem with going to Cabo Delgado, it is a province with job opportunities, but when the reasons for this move appear strange, we have to be very careful,” Gondola said.

Gondola pointed out that the province of Cabo Delgado is the scene of armed attacks and added that the movement of young people to affected areas must have clear justification, in order to avoid recruitment by armed groups.

The police later let the 70 youths leave for their homes.

Some of the youths told journalists that they were going to Cabo Delgado on business or to practice artisanal mining.

Nampula province is next door to Cabo Delgado and several groups of young people have been prevented from travelling there since armed violence erupted in October 2017, for fear that they intended joining the attackers.

Cabo Delgado province has been the target of attacks by armed groups that international organizations classify as a terrorist threat, which have, in the last two and a half years, killed at least 350 people, in addition to subjecting 156,400 people to loss of property or forced abandonment of their home and agricultural land in search of safety.

Source: Lusa