Mozambique: Nampharamas thwart kidnapping of young man in Ancuabe

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Mozambique: Nampharamas thwart kidnapping of young man in Ancuabe

3:10 CAT | 04 Mar 2024

Map: Wikimedia Commons

The local paramilitary group called the “Nampharamas” foiled the kidnapping of a young man by a presumed terrorist group in Ancuabe, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, community sources told Lusa.

The episode occurred around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday in the village of Nicunhete, in the interior of Sunate (Silva Macua), district of Ancuabe, when the victim was working in an agricultural field.

“The terrorists tried to kidnap a young man from his farm, but the Nampharamas saved him. A local resident saw the group approaching the young man and quickly alerted the community. The Nampharamas arrived at the scene and the rebel groups fled, abandoning the victim,” a source from Sunate (Silva Macua) told Lusa.

In the district of Ancuabe, 105 kilometres from the provincial capital, Pemba, the communities of Missufine and Intutupue have warned of the “unusual movement” of unknown groups.

“There is movement, yes, and now we go to the machambas in groups,” another community source said, recalling that, since 2021, when the rebels attacked the community of Naduli, the residents of Ancuabe have been “apprehensive” about these groups’ movements in Cabo Delgado.

The Nampharamas are Mozambican paramilitaries who emerged in the 1980s, during the civil war, combining traditional knowledge and mystical elements in the fight against the community’s enemies.

After several months of relative normality in the districts affected by armed violence in Cabo Delgado, the province has, for a few weeks now, been registering new movements and attacks by rebel groups, whose circulation is limited to points on the few paved roads in the districts affected.

Official data indicate that the new wave of attacks have forced 67,321 people to flee their homes. The Mozambican executive characterises the incursions as a result of the “movement of small groups of terrorists”, who left their barracks towards the south of Cabo Delgado after a period of relative stability.
Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July, 2021, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near natural gas projects, but new waves of attacks have arisen in the south of the region.

The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).

Source: Lusa