Mozambique: Alleged jihadist militant announces goal to impose Islamic law – report

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Mozambique: Alleged jihadist militant announces goal to impose Islamic law – report

3:14 CAT | 27 Mar 2020

File photo: Deutsche Welle

An alleged jihadist activist justified the attacks by armed groups in northern Mozambique with the aim of imposing Islamic law in the region, according to a video distributed online on Thursday.

It is the first message issued by the perpetrators of the attacks that have taken place for the last two and a half years in Cabo Delgado province, recorded in one of the villages they invaded.

The man in military uniform and with his face covered appeals to fight under the flag of the extremist Islamic State group.

“We are always calling [those who see the message] to come here and fight under this flag (…), we do not want the Frelimo flag,” he said, defending the law that is in the Koran, as Allah (God) has spoken.

The Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) has been the ruling party since independence.

“We are not fighting over this wealth of the world. We just want forgiveness,” he said, adding that whoever wants to become Islamic, first has to die when he is fighting, under the struggle of Allah.

The recording was made in broad daylight on the wall of the residence of the administrator of Quissanga, a village in the province of Cabo Delgado invaded on Wednesday and from which the entire population fled, the place was identified to Lusa by an inhabitant of the region when watching the video.

In other moments, the video shows the streets of the village deserted, with smoke and flames.

Two analysts linked to security companies who follow the armed violence in Cabo Delgado told Lusa to accept the recording as legitimate, in line with the photographs released on Wednesday by the armed group near the village buildings.

The Quissanga invasion happened 48 hours after armed men occupied Mocímboa da Praia, 120 kilometres north, one of the main urban areas of Cabo Delgado, where they confronted the Mozambican defence and security forces, causing an as yet undetermined number of casualties before they left the village.

There was no further information either on victims or damage in Mocímboa da Praia, and residents reported finding bodies in the streets, as well as several burned buildings – such as banks and state offices.

The Mozambican authorities confirmed the attack on Mocímboa da Praia, without further information, and have not yet pronounced on the occupation of Quissanga since the early hours of Wednesday.

Bartolomeu Muibo, the administrator of Quissanga, told Lusa on Thursday, as he had already mentioned on Wednesday, from Pemba, that he does not know if the town is still occupied or if there are residents who have already returned due to communication difficulties.

Other telephone contacts made by Lusa have proved fruitless.

Cabo Delgado province has been the target of attacks by armed groups that international organisations classify as a terrorist threat and which in two and a half years have already claimed at least 350 lives and 156,400 people affected with loss of property or forced to abandon their homes and land in search of safe places.

#Breaking: insurgents in #CaboDelgado #Mozambique make a video statement (the second since 2017). Speaker says they want sharia rule and #ISIS #EI flag – not Frelimo flag pic.twitter.com/SliYY3mEdi

— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) March 26, 2020