Mozambique: Attack on vehicles in Maringue involved machine gun and machetes – police

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Mozambique: Attack on vehicles in Maringue involved machine gun and machetes – police

1:45 CAT | 10 Apr 2025

Photo: O País

The Mozambican police said this Wednesday that machetes and a machine gun were used in Tuesday’s attack on vehicles in Maringue, Sofala, in the centre of the country, a former area of clashes with Renamo, but the perpetrators remain unidentified.

“All operational deployments and procedures to hold the perpetrators of this crime accountable are being fervently pursued,” said Leonel Muchina, spokesman for the general command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, at a press conference in Maputo.

Muchina said that the “armed attack” took place on a stretch of the National Highway Number 1 (N1), in the town of Nhazuazua, Subue administrative post, Maringue district, and involved a group of six men, said to be aged between 55 and 65.

“One of them was carrying an AK-47 and the others were carrying machetes. They stopped two heavy cargo vehicles in transit from Nhamapaza to Caia, immobilizing them and setting fire to a total of seven vehicles, five of which were in tow,” he stated.

The police spokesperson then added that the group stopped a passenger vehicle.

“They threatened and robbed the travellers of their belongings and money, and then forced the driver to continue on his way,” Muchina said, stressing that “there were no human casualties.”

Some details of this attack, which occurred at around 6:00 a.m., had already been released on Tuesday by the provincial commander of the PRM in Sofala, central Mozambique, Ernesto Madungue.

Between 2013 and 2015, this area was the scene of regular attacks on vehicles during clashes between the Defence and Security Forces and the armed wing of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), which was later disarmed under the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process.

When questioned by journalists, the provincial commander of the PRM said that it was “premature” to attribute the attack to armed Renamo members, promising to make further statements after the investigation.

The DDR process, which began in 2018 as part of the peace agreement between the parties, covers 5,221 former Renamo guerrillas, 257 of whom were women, and ended in June 2023 with the closure of the Vunduzi base, the last Renamo base, located in the district of Gorongosa, in the central province of Sofala.

The 1992 General Peace Agreement ended a 16-year war between the government army and the Renamo guerrillas. It was signed in Rome between the then President, Joaquim Chissano, and Afonso Dhlakama, the historic leader of Renamo, who died in May 2018.

In 2013, further clashes between the parties continued, lasting 17 months and only ending with the signing, on 5 September 2014, of the Agreement on the Cessation of Military Hostilities between Dhlakama and the former head of state, Armando Guebuza.

On 1 August 2019, the Agreement on the Definitive Cessation of Military Hostilities was signed in Gorongosa between the government of President Filipe Nyusi and the leader of Renamo, Ossufo Momade.

Five days later, in Maputo, the Peace and National Reconciliation Agreement, which is currently being implemented, was signed.

Source: Lusa