Mozambique: Mocímboa da Praia authorities call for calm from returning IDPs

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Mozambique: Mocímboa da Praia authorities call for calm from returning IDPs

3:11 CAT | 25 Jul 2022

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: VOA Portugues]

The permanent secretary of Mocímboa da Praia district urged the population to wait for the Government’s guidelines to return to the region, noting that terrorism has not yet been eradicated in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

“People are returning and we think that, perhaps, they are not understanding our messages, appealing for them to wait a little longer”, said João Saraiva, permanent secretary of the district of Mocímboa da Praia, quoted this Monday by Rádio Moçambique. .

Mocímboa da Praia was the district in which armed groups carried out their first attack on October 5, 2017, and its headquarters town was, for a long time, described as the “base” of the rebels.

After more than a year in the “hands” of rebels, Mocímboa da Praia was looted and almost all public and private infrastructures were destroyed, as well as energy, water, communications and hospitals systems.

In total, about 62,000 people, almost the entire population, left the coastal town due to the conflict over the last four years, with a highlight to the mass flight that occurred after the intensification of rebel actions in June 2020 .

For the permanent secretary of Mocimboa da Praia district, despite the region having been recovered by government forces, the return of the population should be gradual and under the guidance of the Government, which continues to make efforts to rehabilitate basic infrastructure and guarantee the security of the place, in as terrorism has not yet been eradicated in Cabo Delgado.

“We need a little patience on the part of the population”, stressed permanent secretary João Saraiva.

Mocímboa da Praia is located 70 kilometers south of the construction area of the natural gas exploitation project led by several international oil companies and led by TotalEnergies.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

There are about 800,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registry project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda, which was later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), allowed the recovery of areas where there was a presence of rebels, including Mocímboa da Praia, but their flight has caused new attacks in other districts used as a passage or refuge.

Source: Lusa