Mozambique | Attacks in Manica: Humanitarian aid under threat? – Watch

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Mozambique | Attacks in Manica: Humanitarian aid under threat? – Watch

2:03 CAT | 30 Nov 2020

PEPFAR vehicle attacked by armed men

An NGO representative in Manica said that an armed attack on their humanitarian aid vehicle constituted a “terrible threat”, while the US Embassy in Maputo expressed concern.

An armed attack on a vehicle belonging to the humanitarian organisation PEPFAR (US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) in Dombe last Wednesday (25-11) left three persons injured.

Sérgio Pereira, the representative of the Forum of International Non-Governmental Organizations in Manica, said that the attack constituted a terrible and thoughtless threat to humanitarian organisations.

“This is a very big threat, insofar as armed men attack humanitarian organisations,” he said. “We do not understand why they attack Government partners, as organisations do not take military personnel with them and are properly identified, so there should be no reason for concern.”

Following the attack, the Embassy of the United States of America issued a statement on Friday (27-11), expressing “its strong concern regarding the apparent attack on a minibus in Manica Province that injured three employees, one of them seriously, of an organisation that works with the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief”.

Negotiate and not attack

The governor of Manica, Francisca Domingos Tomás, condemned the attack, blaming the self-proclaimed Renamo ‘Military Junta’.

“Renamo’s ‘Military Junta’ continues to attack and kill defenceless people,” she said. “Even after so many calls from the community and the President of the Republic, the Military Junta is not heeding the message.”

“We want the Military Junta to join us in developing the province and the country in general. But the Military Junta has not been responding to these calls,” she added.

“We vehemently repudiate the macabre actions of Renamo’s armed men. These actions are increasingly delaying the country’s development. The Renamo Military Junta must come to the negotiating table to solve their problem about what they are demanding,” she concluded.

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Manica promised a statement about the attack later this week.

Source: Deutsche Welle