Mozambique: Almost 2,100 IDPs in Niassa - UNHCR
Mozambique: Numbers killed by northern rebels halved in 2021- report
3:32 CAT | 13 Apr 2022
File photo: Lusa
The average number of people killed by insurgents in northern Mozambique fell between 2020 and 2021 from 60 to 30 per month, a US annual report said, warning, however, of further “small-scale” attacks.
“Violent extremists affiliated with ISIS-Mozambique in Cabo Delgado province terrorised civilians, including cases of beheadings […] An average of 30 civilians were killed per month by ISIS-Mozambique [in 2021], down from an average of 60 civilians per month in 2020,” the US annual Human Rights Report indicates.
According to Washington, the reduction in the death toll is the result of the Mozambican support forces are receiving from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) since mid-2021, which warns that rebel operations continue. However, albeit on a “small scale”,.
The US report stated that the armed groups terrorising northern Mozambique since 2017 have committed “widespread abuses” and kidnapped dozens of people, recalling that nearly 600 women have been reported missing since 2018, a figure advanced by the non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch.
“On 13 June [2021], violent extremists beheaded two children and two adults, who left a resettlement area in Palma district searching for food. On 24 August, violent extremists reportedly beheaded a group of fishermen in Macomia district in Cabo Delgado province. There have been several media-reported cases of abuse similar to this one,” the report said.
On the other hand, the US document warned of alleged denunciations by civil society organisations about abuses committed by government forces fighting rebel groups in Cabo Delgado province.
“The responses of government forces to this violence have sometimes been heavy-handed, including arbitrary arrests and detentions,” the document stressed, adding that some civil society organisations have reported alleged extrajudicial executions of people suspected of being linked to the rebels terrorising Cabo Delgado province.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but it has been terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
There are 784,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has allowed areas where there was a rebel presence to recover. Still, their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as a passage or temporary refuge.
Besides the drama caused by the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado, the US State Department’s annual report on human rights warns of human rights abuses elsewhere in Mozambique, highlighting alleged reports of restrictions on press freedom, arbitrary detentions and high levels of corruption.
“The government has taken steps to investigate, prosecute and punish some officials who committed human rights abuses and engaged in corrupt practices, yet impunity and corruption remained a problem at all levels, the document concludes.
- You may read( download the Mozambique 2021 Human Rights Report by the U.S. Department of State HERE
The U.S. joins activists around the world to promote respect for human rights and accountability for abuses. Providing the annual #HumanRightsReport—a vital public resource—reflects our commitment to keep human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy. https://t.co/A6OWsfYMD0
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 12, 2022
Human rights are at the heart of our foreign policy and the U.S. strives to identify human rights abuses wherever they occur. Today we released the annual #HumanRightsReport, which provides a fact-based record on the status of human rights worldwide. https://t.co/cwwhgfEVe0 pic.twitter.com/aRjeShAVj6
— Department of State (@StateDept) April 12, 2022
Source: Lusa
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