Mozambique: State praises ex-combatants who joined up to fight Cabo Delgado rebels

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Mozambique: State praises ex-combatants who joined up to fight Cabo Delgado rebels

9:47 CAT | 04 Aug 2022

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican Defence and Security Council (CNDS) on Wednesday highlighted the performance of ex-combatants who voluntarily took up arms again to support government forces in the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado, praising their “patriotic sense”.

“The National Council for Defence and Security welcomed the performance and the patriotic sense of the Local Force in the province of Cabo Delgado,” said a statement from the Mozambican presidency, after a meeting of the body in Maputo.

The so-called local force, made up mainly of former fighters of the liberation struggle against the Portuguese colonial regime, has been an ally of government forces fighting the insurgency in northern Mozambique, with the advantage of being made up of former local guerrillas and who know the geography of the region affected by the conflict.

The local force obeys the command of the Defence and Security Forces of Mozambique and is supported by the Ministry of Defence and is of voluntary membership by ex-combatants who still feel able to fight again against the rebels who terrorise the north of Mozambique.

For the National Defence and Security Council, the performance of the local force has contributed to “improving the security of the communities in the districts affected by terrorism”.

“The National Defence and Security Council encouraged the Defence and Security Forces and their partners to make further efforts to ensure the maintenance of peace and security of the communities and their assets,” the document said, which also noted the results of the operation that culminated in the assault on the insurgents’ main base, known as Catupa, in Macomia, at the end of last month.

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

There are about 800,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), allowed areas where there was a rebel presence to recover, but their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as passage or refuge.

Source: Lusa