Mozambique: Palma leader says entire district now safe

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Mozambique: Palma leader says entire district now safe

9:32 CAT | 06 Sep 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Distrito de Palma/Facebook]

The administrator of the Palma district in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, João Buchili, said on Tuesday that security in this district, one of the worst affected by the terrorist attacks, has been fully restored.

“In terms of security, the Palma district is out of danger from terrorists. The Defence and Security Forces are working to definitively put an end to this terrorist process,” João Buchili, Palma’s district administrator, said yesterday.

The leader, who was speaking to journalists in the city of Pemba, also said that people are farming within a radius of around 30 kilometres from the district headquarters without needing an escort or intervention from the Defence and Security Forces, which was not the case a year ago due to the insecurity caused by the attacks, and the town was occupied in 2021.

“The people are farming (…) near the town [of Palma], in all the communities [in the district], they are farming in the distant areas, they are going out some 25 to 30 kilometres, without any escort, because security allows it,” he said.

The leader also called on the population, especially young people, to be more vigilant and to report any suspicious behaviour.

“Report any strange situation to the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces, the Local Force and the Rwandan forces (…). The young motorcyclists have been given spotlights because they’re the ones who know, they’re the ones who take people from one point to another, they can facilitate information about outsiders,” he concluded, making the same appeal to fishermen.

Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for almost six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

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

The conflict has already displaced a million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the conflict registration project, ACLED.

Source: Lusa