Mozambique: Government creates the Afungi Special Operational Theatre – Lusa

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Mozambique: Government creates the Afungi Special Operational Theatre – Lusa

7:28 CAT | 17 Mar 2021

File photo: Total Mozambique

The commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique on Tuesday (16-03) announced the creation of the Afungi Special Operational Theatre, a special operations zone in Afungi, Palma district, Cabo Delgado, where natural gas projects are being developed.

The creation of a special operation zone in Afungi aims to protect the area where gas exploration projects, led by oil company Total, are being developed, Radio Mozambique quotes Bernardino Rafael as saying during an official patenting ceremony at the Academy of Police Sciences on the outskirts of Maputo.

Mozambique’s Defence and Security Forces designate as ‘operational theatres’ areas of the national territory where specific interventions are underway – such as the Northern Operational Theatre, for the conflict with armed rebels in Cabo Delgado, or the Central Operational Theatre, where the authorities are pursuing a dissident Renamo splinter group accused of carrying out attacks that have killed 30 people since 2019.

In addition to Afungi in the north, the police commander continued, the authorities had created another operational theatre in the south, to “come into action whenever there are major events”, bringing to four number of operational theatres in the country.

Also read: There are now 4 FDS Operational Theatres in Mozambique – Rafael

Armed violence in Cabo Delgado, where Africa’s largest multinational private investment is taking place, is causing a humanitarian crisis with more than 2,000 and 670,000 people displaced, without adequate housing or food.

Some of the raids were, between June 2019 and November 2020, claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, but the source and motivation of the attacks remains under debate.

Source: Lusa