Mozambique: Defence Council calls for ‘immediate solutions’ to SA attacks on Mozambican vehicles

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Mozambique: Defence Council calls for ‘immediate solutions’ to SA attacks on Mozambican vehicles

2:17 CAT | 06 Feb 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [Screen grab from video shared on social media].

Mozambique’s National Defence and Security Council (CNDS) on Thursday called for “immediate solutions to the competent authorities” to halt attacks on Mozambican cars in South Africa.

“The National Defence and Security Council urged the competent authorities to find immediate solutions with the government of that country to eradicate the problem,” said a statement from the Mozambican presidency sent to the media.

The statement reviewed the regular meeting of the Defence and Security Council chaired by Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi.

The CNDS “strongly condemned the wave of vandalisation” of vehicles, the statement added.

At least six Mozambican vehicles, including a bus and a truck, have been burnt by assailants since last week on the R22 road between Hluhluwe and Mbazwana, in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

The stretch, about 90 kilometres from the border with Mozambique, is part of the link used by several carriers between Maputo and Durban.

The attacks came after local communities in that area of KwaZulu-Natal complained of several thefts of vehicles allegedly smuggled into Mozambique that have gone unpunished.

“Taking the law into your own hands by setting vehicles on fire will only exacerbate the problem,” the South African national police commissioner, Fannie Masemola, explained at a meeting with the population on Tuesday.

In the same document, the presidency said the Defence Council also praised the performance of the military in the “marked improvement in security” in northern Mozambique, where armed attacks have been recorded since 2017.

According to the CNDS, the improved security in Cabo Delgado “contributes to the gradual return of the populations” to their areas of origin.

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for five years with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State. The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.

The conflict has left one million people displaced, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and about 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Source: Lusa