Mozambique: Armed group tried to assault some prisons in Cabo Delgado

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Mozambique: Armed group tried to assault some prisons in Cabo Delgado

3:18 CAT | 10 Nov 2020

Photo: O País

Terrorists in Cabo Delgado have repeatedly tried to storm prisons in Cabo Delgado, and at one point threatened to invade the prison unit in Mieze, the largest in the province, the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs confirmed yesterday.

Mieze is an open prison in Metuge, Cabo Delgado. The attempted invasion of the unit, as with other prisons in Mocímboa da Praia and Macomia, was foiled by security guards.

“Faced with the threat of the armed invasion of penitentiary establishments in Mieze, Mocímboa da Praia and Macomia, the guards were neither frightened nor cowed, but showed bravery and courage in preventing the terrorists’ assaults,” Minister Helena Kida said.

According to Minister Kida, the security guards “twice resisted attempts to overrun the establishments, and ensured the evacuation of 89 prisoners to safety”.

Some of the prison guards were promoted in recognition of their bravery.

“Under the terms of article 39 of the Statute of the Penitentiary Guard, 24 agents were promoted on merit to a rank or post immediately superior for having rendered relevant and extraordinary service in their mission of protecting society,” the minister explained.

Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia prisons are currently partially closed as a result of the security situation in the province.

By Hizidine Achá

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Islamist terrorists have attempted to attack prisons in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to Justice Minister Helena Kida, cited by the independent television station STV.

She said the terrorists’ targets were the semi-open prison of Mieze in Metuge district, and the Mocimboa da Praia and Macomia district jails. But in all three cases, the prison guards were able to protect the establishments and evacuate the prisoners.

“Faced with the threat of armed invasion of the Mieze, Mocimboa da Praia and Macomia prisons, the guards did not panic or act in a cowardly manner”, Kida said. “They showed courage which prevented the assaults planned by the terrorists”.

The security guards stationed at the prisons, she continued, “resisted two attempted attacks, and ensured the evacuation of 89 prisoners to a safe place”.

As a result, 24 prison guards will be promoted, said Kida, “for providing extraordinary services in their mission of protecting society”.

In Muidumbe district, journalists from a community radio station have been forced to abandon their premises because of terrorist attacks.

According to a press release from the Forum of Community Radios (FORCOM), on 31 October the jihadists occupied the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish church in the Muidumbe village of Muambula, which hosts the St. Francis of Assissi community radio station.

The nine journalists who work on the radio fled with their families towards Mueda and Montepuez districts, regarded as safe from attack. They have been hiding for days in the bush, without food or clean water.

Cited in the FORCOM release, the radio coordinator, Catholic priest Edgard Silva Junior, said he suspected that the entire structure of the radio was destroyed in the attack. Any equipment rescued would be taken to the provincial capital, Pemba.

FORCOM urged the government to strengthen the necessary conditions to guarantee the human rights of the communities affected by the conflicts, and to allow journalists to practice their profession.

Silva Junior cited several mobile phone text messages he had received from radio workers: “Our houses in the 24th March village have been burnt down. They are killing. It’s very bad this time”, said one.

Another message said “We’re still in the bush. The situation is very complicated. We are dying of thirst and hunger. I’ve been with my nephews for three days without eating anything”. A third simply said “my father has been beheaded”.

The catholic bishop of Pemba, Luiz Fernando Lisboa, interviewed by the German agency DW Africa, said that last week 11 villages had been attacked in Muidumbe. The raiders, he said, “spread a lot of death. They burnt down houses and public buildings”.

The bishop added he had heard, from several sources, that in one of the villages, the attackers murdered 15 young men, aged between 12 and 15 years, who had been attending an initiation ceremony.

Source: O País / AIM