Mozambique: Palma, one week after the attack – DW

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Mozambique: Palma, one week after the attack – DW

3:31 CAT | 31 Mar 2021

FILE - Helicopter of the Dyck Advisory Group, a private military company contracted by the government, landing in Palma. [File photo: DW]

The Armed Forces of Mozambique have admitted that they have not yet regained complete control of Palma, the town in Cabo Delgado province where a terrorist attack a week ago caused dozens of deaths and displaced thousands of people.

The deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mozambique, Bertolino Jeremias Capitine, told a group of journalists this Tuesday in Afungi, near Palma, that soldiers of various specialties were trying to quash the points of jihadist resistance that still persist in the town.

The army is ready and hopes that the population displaced by the violence will soon be able to return to the city, Capitine said.

“There were hundreds, coming from various parts of the city, and we had to flee because there were only about 35 soldiers at the military post,” one of the soldiers wounded in the attack told the Efe news agency.

Injured and without transport, they hid in the bush, where they survived until they were rescued by the army on Saturday, he said. They were taken to the facilities of the Total oil company in Afungi, from where they were transported to a hospital. One civilian died on the flight.

Another soldier speaking to Efe described the attack as “a massacre”, and that they had to rush out of a rapid intervention post, where they had recently received weapons and ammunition.

After prioritising the almost 2,000 workers and subcontractors at Total’s natural gas project , rescue teams began to evacuate of Palma residents.

Palmaroad.dw_ — *FILE – Islamic State claimed control of the village of Palma on Monday. [File photo: DW]*

Civil society calls for international support

Eighteen Mozambican civil society organisations have demanded that President Filipe Nyusi “trigger” requests for international support to combat the armed groups in the north of the country, on the grounds that the situation has reached “unacceptable proportions”. They have also called for the appreciation and recognition of the young soldiers trying at all costs to put an end to the action of the armed groups.

The civil society organisations’ plea appears in an open letter addressed to Filipe Nyusi, in which they ask the head of state to “activate the support of the Southern African Development Community [SADC], African Union (AU) and other international partners” in combating the armed groups carrying out attacks in Cabo Delgado.

Following the attack on Palma, the organisations have called for the rescue of the children, girls and women who have fallen into the hands of insurgents.

“We demand regular and timely information from the head of state about the situation in Cabo Delgado, accurate information about those affected disaggregated by gender and age group, including those displaced, murdered and kidnapped,” the document reads.

The organisations also want regular information from the government on conditions in those locations where the victims of armed violence are being received. A framework for dialogue to coordinate actions in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the insurrection is also being sought.

Source: Deutsche Welle / Sala da Paz / TVM