Mozambique: Rebels ‘sending family to resettlement areas for food, information’ – police

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Mozambique: Rebels ‘sending family to resettlement areas for food, information’ – police

12:26 CAT | 09 Mar 2022

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Some rebels in northern Mozambique are sending family members to resettlement areas, as if they were displaced by the armed conflict, to obtain food and useful information to share with the insurgent movement, according to police officers there.

“The terrorists in the woods, who are leaders and have the possibility of moving people, are making family members pretend to be displaced persons, while instead they are fleeing hunger,” said Cabo Delgado provincial commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), Vicente Chicote.

Chicote was speaking on Tuesday after visiting displaced people trying to start a new life far from rebel attacks in Chiúre, in the south of the province.

“When they arrive at the resettlement sites, they send information: there is food here, you can attack, there are no police or soldiers,” he elaborated.

Revealing this inside information about the machinations of the insurgents, Chicote warned the populace: “We have to be vigilant. Anyone who notices strange movements should alert local structures.”

The police commander observed that some terrorists are “sons of the land” they are attacking, and that their family members sometimes hide them.

But he still considers denunciations necessary. “We are often afraid to denounce our son, because he will go to prison,” Chicote said, but it was better to visit him in jail “than him being caught” by “people who could kill him”.

To assist patrolling in the Chiúre communities, the PRM presented two new all-terrain vehicles adapted to transport agents.

More than 10,000 people displaced by the armed attacks, mostly from Mueda, Muidumbe and Mocímboa da Praia, are resettled in the district.

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

The conflict has already caused more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and displaced more than 859,000 people, according to the Mozambican authorities.

Since July, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has increased security, recovering several areas from rebel control, but their flight has given rise to new attacks in districts used for passage or as temporary refuge.

Source: Lusa