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Mozambique’s Ministry of Defence on Thursday said that images of torture by men in uniforms of the country’s forces and security may be the work of terrorists accustomed to confusing public opinion.
The reaction comes after Amnesty International (AI) asked on Wednesday in a statement for an investigation into alleged abuses by the security forces, based on images.
ALSO READ: Amnesty International calls for investigation into abuse of security forces in Mozambique
“The torture, beheading attempts and other mistreatment referred to in the [AI] communiqué as practised by members wearing army and Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR, police) uniforms should not be seen as a definitive certainty,” said a spokesman, Colonel Omar Nala Saranga, when reading a communiqué released by the ministry.
He said that “One of the tactics used by terrorists in their macabre incursions against the population is to pose as members of the FDS [Defense Security Forces], in a veiled attempt to confuse national and international public opinion”.
“The Defense and Security Forces reiterate that they do not agree with any form of torture, beheading attempts, mistreatment or illegal acts,” he added.
On the other hand, terrorists operating in northern Cabo Delgado make use of new technologies, pointing to social networks on the Internet and the dissemination of fake news as examples, to ensure a global audience, to be in touch with its members, to manage and plan actions, without the need for a geographic centre of gravity, and in this way to convey a message, maintain clandestinity, and recruit new members.
The ministry of defence said that AI takes an approach based on videos and photos, without considering the nature of the terrorist group’s covert propaganda, which aims to denigrate the image of the FDS.
The statement added that Mozambican authorities are willing to cooperate and review any testimony, complaint, document or allegation that comes to them in good faith to be investigated and held accountable under the law.
Saranga also questioned AI’s silence on other occasions when human rights were at stake, such as during the “Xitaxi massacre” in April of this year, in which armed groups killed about 50 young people who allegedly refused to join the insurgency.
ALSO READ: Mozambique: FDS confirms murder of 52 young people in Xitaxi, Muidumbe – Noticias
Mozambique: Torture by security forces in gruesome videos must be investigated https://t.co/gFxiiZfQXM
— AmnestySouthernAfrica (@AmnestySARO) September 9, 2020
Cabo Delgado has been facing attacks from armed groups for three years that have killed more than a thousand people and displaced 250,000 internally.
The director of AI for Eastern Africa and Southern Africa, Deprose Muchena, said in a statement on Wednesday that the attacks do not justify the Mozambican forces committing atrocities, but the images are evidence of the serious human rights violations and shocking violence that has occurred in Cabo Delgado, far from the international spotlight.
Members of Amnesty International obtained five videos and three photos from sources located in Mozambique and the materials, in digital format, were verified by participants of the ‘Crisis Evidence Lab’, a section of the AI itself.
The organisation also highlighted the fact that the authors of the abuses on film speak Portuguese and Changana, a language of southern Mozambique.
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