Mozambique: Self-proclaimed Military Junta denounces death squads’ reactivation – VOA

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Mozambique: Self-proclaimed Military Junta denounces death squads’ reactivation – VOA

3:57 CAT | 16 Dec 2019

Mariano Nhongo. [File photo: VOA Portugues]

Mariano Nhongo, the leader of the self-styled Renamo ‘Military Junta’, on Thursday denounced the alleged revival of death squads and the intensification, since the order given for their “capture and accountability”, of kidnapping of persons suspected of liaising with the dissidents.

Nhongo said that several people had been kidnapped from their homes and fields in recent days in areas considered opposition strongholds, only to be found dead later in areas far from their villages.

“Last week six people were abducted in Gorongosa and killed in Dombe. In Nhamatanda, three people were taken and killed in Mutindiri. Other people were taken from Mutindiri and killed in Dombe,” Mariano Nhongo said in a telephone interview.

“The Renamo Military Junta condemns this; this should end here in Mozambique,” he added.

Without revealing his whereabouts, the founder of Renamo’s self-proclaimed Military Junta said the abducted victims were transported in unidentified vehicles at night.

“They let those [death squads] launch these attacks and seize people from their homes” Mariano Nhongo said, referring to the abductees as “innocents” who are being sacrificed.

Mariano Nhongo, who has since July led a splinter group of dissident Renamo guerrillas, has again distanced himself from attacks by armed groups on main roads EN1, which connects the north and south of Mozambique, and the EN6, which connects the Indian Ocean port of Beira and Zimbabwe and other hinterland countries.

However, he again threatened military action following the inauguration of the new government in January, in continuance of his demand for the renegotiation of the agreements on the cessation of military hostilities and the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of opposition guerrillas.

“The military junta has not yet responded to the assault, but it is going to make war here in Mozambique,” he threatened, adding: “If (Filipe) Nyusi takes office in January, every person who has a vehicle should keep it [at home], because we will burn it.”

ALSO READ: Junta threatens attacks on day of Nyusi’s investiture – AIM

Armed attacks against civilian and police targets on main roads in central Mozambique and state infrastructure were reactivated in August, so far killing at least 13 people and injuring more, including Defence and Security Forces agents.

On Monday, December 9, one person was killed and another seriously injured in an attack on a bus near Muda Serração in south-central Mozambique, an area where three trucks were attacked and set on fire in the space of a week.

By André Batista

Source: VOA Portugues