Mozambique: Cabo Delgado armed groups may open new bases – Renamo

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Cabo Delgado armed groups may open new bases – Renamo

8:06 CAT | 17 Aug 2021

Picture: Ossufo Momade on Facebook

The leader of the Renamo opposition party on Monday warned the government of the risk that armed groups operating in Cabo Delgado would open new bases, following their expulsion from the positions they previously occupied.

“I was a guerrilla fighter and I know that the state and the security forces must be very careful [with the movements of armed groups], because when a guerrilla leaves a place he will settle in another place,” Ossufo Momade said.

He said that the government forces should take the silence of the armed groups, which had suffered setbacks in recent weeks, seriously.

Ossufo Momade noted that the reconquest of the town of Mocímboa da Praia by government forces without much resistance could be a sign that the insurgents had strategically withdrawn and this could be dangerous.

“There has to be reconnaissance of the area so that the insurgents can be dislodged, throughout the northern part of the country,” he added.

On the 8th, a joint operation by Mozambican and Rwandan government forces recaptured the strategic port town of Mocímboa da Praia, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The town, which as well as a port has an airfield, had been occupied by rebels since 23 March last year, in an action later claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado province since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

Following the attacks, there are more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

Source: Lusa