Mozambique / Attacks: Nampula will not suffer – provincial leader | Lusa

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Mozambique / Attacks: Nampula will not suffer – provincial leader | Lusa

1:32 CAT | 19 Sep 2022

in file CoM

The secretary of state for Nampula province believes that the Defence and Security Forces are ready to prevent armed attacks in the far north of that province from evolving to the scale of the conflict in Cabo Delgado.

“Have no doubt, we are in a position to make this fight for every territorial piece of our province,” Mety Gondola declared in an interview with Lusa.

At issue are attacks registered in recent weeks in the far north of Nampula province, armed incursions whose authorship is attributed to the rebels who have been terrorising, since 2017, Cabo Delgado, a neighbouring province located on the northern bank of the Lúrio river.

The incursions of these groups, which have crossed to the south bank, have mainly targeted the districts of Eráti and Memba, destroying infrastructure and leaving a so far unknown number of deaths, including an Italian nun murdered during an attack on the Catholic mission in Chipene.

According to preliminary figures from Nampula’s Secretary of State, in Eráti district alone, the new incursions have caused close to 10,000 displaced persons.

Mety Gondola said the troops were deploying in “intensive actions” on the ground, to prevent the conflict from growing.

“For a long time, the terrorists have been looking for ways to destabilise Nampula province. They have only failed because our Defence and Security Forces have been working intensively,” Mety Gondola stressed.

Since the beginning of the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado, Nampula province has always been pointed out as one of the points where the insurgents “recruit” young people to strengthen their ranks.

Mety Gondola said the solution to curb recruitment lay in developing communities and paying attention to vulnerable youth.

“We want to find a general framework for development that finds opportunities for all, but especially for the most vulnerable groups,” Mety Gondola said.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has led to a military response since a year ago by forces from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects but leading to a new wave of attacks in other areas, closer to Pemba, the provincial capital, and in Nampula province.

There are about 800,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa