Mozambique: Nampula provincial government beefs up security after attacks

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Mozambique: Nampula provincial government beefs up security after attacks

3:40 CAT | 14 Sep 2022

Image: Radio Moçambique

The secretary of state of Mozambique’s Nampula region, Mety Gondola, said the authorities had strengthened security in the face of new attacks in the far north of the province, ensuring that institutions are operating in the affected areas.

“We have strengthened our capacity considerably in recent days, and we have teams deploying,” the Nampula secretary of state said, quoted today by Radio Mozambique.

There have been attacks recorded in recent weeks in the far north of that province, armed incursions attributed to the rebels who have terrorised Cabo Delgado, a neighbouring province of Nampula, since 2017.

According to Mety Gondola, Mozambique’s Defence and Security Forces are on the ground and state institutions are functioning.

“We have been closely monitoring the affected districts,” he added.

The attacks in the far north of Nampula have left an unknown number of dead, including an Italian nun killed during an attack on the Catholic mission in Chipende, in the far north of the area, which is part of the Nacala diocese.

This is an area close to the Lúrio river, the natural border between the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.

On Thursday, Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi warned that the country must prevent the expansion of armed groups to more provinces, noting that “terrorism has no borders, no barracks”.

“They have migrated, spread in small groups and are trying to go to Nampula,” the Mozambican head of state stressed.

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

The insurgency has led to a military response since a year ago by forces from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects but leading to a new wave of attacks in other areas, closer to Pemba, the provincial capital, and in Nampula province.

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

Source: Lusa