Mozambique: Defence Forces retake villages in Mocímboa da Praia district – Carta

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Defence Forces retake villages in Mocímboa da Praia district – Carta

8:23 CAT | 28 Jul 2021

Image: Google Maps

Everything indicates that Rwandan support is having some effect. Head of state President Filipe Nyusi last Sunday indicated that the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) had recovered some villages in the district of Mocímboa da Praia, namely Diaca, Roma, Nanili and Awasse, the latter being a strategic point for access to Mueda district, via National Road N380.

Three of the villages had been in the hands of the insurgents since August 2020, when the insurgents occupied the town of Mocímboa da Praia.

Addressing the nation in his first communication about the terrorist attacks, Filipe Nyusi stated that, on Sunday evening, the terrorists were still trying to retake Awasse, against stiff FDS opposition. After the recovery of the villages, the terrorists in the course of their retreat vandalised the villages of Matope, Namande and Nampanha, in the district of Muidumbe.

Regarding Palma, the head of state said that the FDS was continuing its patrolling operations, with a view specifically to clearing the Palma/Quionga and Palma/Pundanhar areas.

“This is not about singing victory, because the fight against terrorism has no forecast,” the FDS commander-in-chief said in the course of his nearly 50-minute speech. The president said he was proud of the work of the Mozambican troops, despite the clear and visible progress of terrorist action in the province since October 2017.

Five districts in Cabo Delgado lack health services due to terrorism

Five districts in the province of Cabo Delgado are, at the moment, without any basic health services as a result of the terrorist attacks taking place in that part of the country. These are Quissanga, Macomia, Muidumbe and Palma, severely affected by the terrorist attacks, and the district of Mocímboa da Praia, which is still occupied.

According to Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, 39 health units in Cabo Delgado province are closed down altogether, 11 of them totally destroyed. Thirteen are described as partially destroyed and 15 are closed due to safety concerns.

President Nyusi noted that 886 health workers from the worst-affected districts were forced to provide services in other districts, while 48 workers’ homes were destroyed. Seven vehicles, including five ambulances, are registered as destroyed.

More than 123,000 children without classes in Cabo Delgado

The terrorist attacks are affecting the education sector, too. More than 123,000 children have seen their studies interrupted, and more than 42,000 forced to continue them in other districts.

President Nyusi said the insurgents had destroyed 46 schools and five District Services for Education, Youth and Technology premises. Overall, 219 schools have ceased to function in the province and 1,736 teachers are displaced in the districts of Ancuabe, Balama, Chiúre, Mecúfi, Metuge, Montepuez, Mueda, Namuno, Nangade, Meluco and Pemba. Eight teachers were murdered in the districts of Muidumbe, Macomia, Nangade and Palma.

Since the beginning of the terrorist attacks, more than 2,000 people have died and more than 800,000 are currently displaced in districts of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Niassa and Zambézia provinces.

Source: Carta de Moçambique