Mozambique: South African forces leaving SAMIM as presidential authorization ends
Niassa province has Cabo Degado to the East, Nampula and Zambeiza provinces to the South, Tanzania to the north and Lake Niassa [also called Lake Nyasa or Lake Malawi] to the West.
The provincial commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Niassa province, Arnaldo Chefo, warns of the possibility that insurgent attacks in Cabo Delgado could spread to the neighbouring province of Niassa.
“We are very concerned about terrorism in Cabo Delgado and, being neighbours of that province, have to be constantly vigilant so that terrorists do not penetrate our province,” Chefo said.
Armed attacks have occurred in Niassa, but, from the government’s perspective, they have nothing to do with the insurgency in Cabo Delgado.
Niassa province is however home to hundreds of internally displaced persons fleeing war in districts in the north and centre of Cabo Delgado.
João Mosca, economist and director of the ‘Observatório do Meio Rural’ (Rural Observatory), believes says the conflict could spread to Niassa because this conflict has some social support there.
Mosca says that the fact that the insurgents are being fought off in Cabo Delgado may cause them to seek new positions in other provinces in northern Mozambique.
But it is necessary, he says, to understand the phenomenon as a whole because the entire northern part of Mozambique has high levels of poverty and inequality, in a region where different types of contraband trafficking are also practised.
“It is necessary to investigate the problems that cause part of the population to support these groups of attackers, many of whom are local people, because the military alone will not solve the problem,” Mosca says.
He also says that it is necessary to solve the serious problems that exist in the region, “otherwise, very possibly, the conflict will continue, especially since it has some social support”.
On Monday (01-04), police in Cabo Delgado confirmed that a group of insurgents had invaded three homes in the Quitunda resettlement neighbourhood in Palma.
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