Mozambique: Residents in Macomia district find decapitated bodies near river

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Mozambique: Residents in Macomia district find decapitated bodies near river

4:59 CAT | 11 Oct 2022

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

Residents in a community in the interior of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique, have found two decapitated bodies near the Messalo river, according to local sources – the latest in a string of similar such reports in the province.

“We found two dead people on the banks of the river from where we draw water to drink and where we fish,” said a 44-year-old resident of Litandakua, a village in the bush 40 kilometres from the district headquarters, Macomia, speaking on Monday.

“Those who were killed were there, like us,” looking for water and fishing, and are thought to have been murdered on Sunday, he added.

Locals sees the killings as a warning, and some have said that they intend to flee the village to the district headquarters.

“I think we are still not safe,” lamented another resident, who attributed the attack to the armed groups that have been tormenting Cabo Delgado for five years. “It is worth leaving.”

Litandakua is among communities protected by local militias, which are helping Mozambique government forces fighting the insurgency, but residents’ fears persist.

Last week, in another community, Lyúkwé, also in the interior of Macomia district, residents discovered three bodies in an advanced state of decomposition.

According to reports, they were presumed to be members of the rebel groups. They had been shot dead, with bullet holes in their backs and chests.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but since 2017 has been terrorised by armed violence, with responsibility for some attacks claimed by a local affiliate of the extremist group Islamic State.

A military response started a year ago, now with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has liberated districts near gas projects, but there have been new waves of violence to the south and in neighbouring Nampula province.

Macomia is one of the districts outside the perimeter of the gas projects to which some insurgents are thought to have fled after their bases were destroyed, since when they have been living in the bush and looting villages.

In five years, the conflict has displaced around a million residents, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and seen around 4,000 people killed, according to the conflict registration project ACLED.

Source: Lusa