Mozambique: Nampula province fears insurgency spreading from Cabo Delgado – Lusa

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Mozambique: Nampula province fears insurgency spreading from Cabo Delgado – Lusa

6:42 CAT | 14 Jan 2022

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The secretary of state for Nampula province, neighbouring Cabo Delgado, has called on the population to be vigilant in the face of signs of insurgency spreading in northern Mozambique.

“[The insurgents] are suffering casualties in Cabo Delgado. They will want to flee and may come here to take advantage of our food and wait for another moment to continue to do us harm,” Mety Gondola was quoted by Mozambique Television on Friday.

Gondola asked the population to control the entrances, exits and activities in the community to ensure that the province of Nampula is safe.

“We have to be able to identify and denounce [the suspects]. Each of us has to control [his neighbourhood] so that we are all safe,” the official stressed.

Gondola’s speech comes when there are signs of the insurgency spreading to Niassa province, neighbouring Cabo Delgado (also in northern Mozambique), with sporadic attacks on remote places that have caused around 3,000 people to flee, according to the latest figures from the authorities.

Since July, an offensive by government troops with support from Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), allowed for an increase in security, recovering several areas where there was rebel presence, including the town of Mocímboa da Praia, which had been occupied since August 2020.

The SADC Military Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) will remain in the country for another three months, in an operation budgeted at US$29.5 million (26 million euros), Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since October 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group Islamic State.

The conflict has led to more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

Source: Lusa