Mozambique: South African charged with financing terror group – AIM report

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Mozambique: South African charged with financing terror group – AIM report

11:38 CAT | 05 Jan 2019

Francis and Andre Hanekom. File photo

The public prosecutor’s office in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado has accused a South African businessman, Andre Hanekom, of financing the terrorist attacks that have shaken some of the northern districts of the province since October 2017, according to a report in the independent daily “O Pais”.

The prosecutors claim that Hanekom has been paying members of the terrorist group a monthly wage of 10,000 meticais (about 164 US dollars). No explanation has been offered as to why a South African businessman should finance a group inspired by islamic fundamentalism.

Hanekom was detained in August last year, shortly after leaving the hospital in the provincial capital where he had received treatment for a bullet wound suffered during an apparent robbery in the town of Palma.

The detention was only formalised in December, when the Cabo Delgado provincial attorney’s office claimed there was sufficient evidence of his involvement in the attacks. He has been charged alongside two Mozambicans and two Tanzanians.

The prosecution claims that he led an armed group which, in April 2018, set up a barracks in Nangade district, and then carried out incursions into the Ncumbe, Muangaza and Eduardo Mondlane villages in Palma, and the headquarters of the Olumbe administrative post, where they beheaded more than ten civilians.

The indictment claims that the Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) discovered in Hanekom’s house gunpowder, machetes, bows, arrows and rockets. These weapons were regarded as sufficient proof of his involved in the finance, logistics and coordination of the attacks.

At the supposed rebel base in Nangade, the leaders of the armed group held military training sessions, and planned attacks against positions of the defence and security forces in Palma and Mocimboa da Praia districts. The objective of the group was to set up an independent state in northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania, and thus prevent the exploitation of the vast reserves of natural gas discovered off the coast of Palma.

Hanekom’s wife, Frances, does not believe a word of it. Cited in Friday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Mediafax” she said she had been denied access to her husband, and he has also been denied his right to consult a lawyer.

“What’s happening to Andre is all very sad”, she said. “He has nothing to do with any of this. I believe that, in the end, everything will be explained and it will be proven that Andre is innocent”.

Frances Hanekom was sure that her husband “can’t have anything to do with all this confusion. But the important thing now is that he should have access to his lawyer and to his family”.

The South African government is also concerned about the case. The South African Foreign Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, has received a report from the South African High Commissioner in Maputo, Mandisi Mpahlwa, on the charges against Hanekom.

According to a note from her Ministry, Sisulu has asked the South African security agencies to investigate the matter.

Citing the strong political and economic relations between South Africa and Mozambique, she said involvement of South African citizens in jihadist activities would be “unacceptable”, and that South Africans should “spread peace and love throughout the SADC region, the continent and the world”.

Source: AIM