Mozambique: Residents abandon homes in two Muidumbe villages – Lusa

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Mozambique: Residents abandon homes in two Muidumbe villages – Lusa

3:44 CAT | 29 Oct 2024

Image: Google Maps

Residents have abandoned two communities in the district of Muidumbe, Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique, after the murder of three fishermen on Saturday, sources from the communities told Lusa.

The communities of Mapate and Mandela are about 50 kilometres from the district headquarters.

The population began to flee on Saturday, when residents found the bodies of three fishermen showing signs of having been beheaded on the banks of the Messalo river near Macomia, the district headquarters.

Residents attributed the attack to a group of terrorists believed to be operating in the region.

“Right now I’m in Nanhala,” reported one source, speaking from that town in Mueda district. “I left Mandela, and others are in the woods. The situation is bad – the terrorists are heading towards our village.”

The same source says that hundreds of people were fleeing and others were already in the bush, including elderly people who were left asking for help.

“We left in a stampede. There are elderly people who can’t cope and have no one. I helped one up to a certain point,” the source added.

The residents of the town of Mapate are in the same situation, and have abandoned the community for places of safety, sources report.
“Almost everyone fled – the terrorists were very close to our village,” one source from Mueda said.

Cabo Delgado, a province rich in natural gas, has since October 2017 been facing an armed insurgency, with attacks claimed by movements associated with the fundamentalist Islamic State group.

The last major attack took place on 10 and 11 May of this year on the district headquarters of Macomia, with around a hundred insurgents looting the town, causing several deaths and occasioning heavy fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and soldiers from Rwanda supporting Mozambique in the fight against the rebels.

Source: Lusa