Mozambique : Interior Minister says Cabo Delgado situation “worrying”

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Mozambique : Interior Minister says Cabo Delgado situation “worrying”

8:27 CAT | 24 Feb 2020

Photo: Angop

The Interior Minister of Mozambique today considered as “quite worrying” the attacks in Cabo Delgado, carried out by “faceless individuals”, with the involvement of other nationalities.

Speaking to journalists in Luanda, Amade Miquidade, cited by Lusa, the special envoy of the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, to Angola, stressed that, although worrying, the situation is under the control of the authorities.

According to the Minister, there is a presence of “faceless individuals” who “do not identify”.

“We do not know what the purpose is, which makes them slaughter, but there is no purpose that leads to individuals killing innocent people, men, old people, children, cutting up these same victims, burning villages, attacking health centres, as well as other institutions at the level of Cabo Delgado districts,“ he said.

The Interior Minister of Mozambique stressed that although security defence forces are in place, the attackers “act with sophisticated means”.

“They are individuals – we have knowledge, information, of the involvement of individuals of other nationalities – and they never said what the purpose of the action was. So, it is not out of control, but it is quite worrying, especially when an innocent citizen dies, it is a concern, and in that case several die,” he said.

Urged to disclose the nationalities involved in these attacks, Amade Miquidade declined to give any details, but assured that the Mozambican authorities have no doubts “that someone is financing these activities fro the outside [of the country]”.

At the end of the audience granted by the Angolan head of state, the Minister of the Interior said that he discussed with João Lourenço the strengthening of defence and security cooperation.

Minister Miquimade, who delivered a letter from Nyusi to João Lourenço, considered as”very good the significant cooperation [between the two countries], both at the leadership level and at officials’ level”.

Asked whether the letter sent to the Angolan President is related to the current situation in Cabo Delgado, Filipe Nyusi’s special envoy said that cooperation between defence and security forces involves the exchange of information.

“We proposed strengthening cooperation and that is what we are doing. It is not the first time that a PR envoy has come, at the defence and security level, and maybe, we hope, tomorrow or in a month a delegation from Angola will go to Mozambique,” he stressed.

The armed attacks in the province of Cabo Delgado, where natural gas megaprojects are being born, have already caused at least 350 deaths and affected 156,400 people.

There has never been a claim of responsibility for the attacks, except for communiqués from ‘jihadist’ groups, Islamic State, but whose presence on the ground experts and authorities consider little credible.

Source: Lusa