Mozambique: State remains committed to fighting terrorism – government

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Mozambique: State remains committed to fighting terrorism – government

3:41 CAT | 14 Aug 2020

Photo: TVM

Mozambique’s minister of defence said that the country remains committed to fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado when asked by Lusa about the use of mercenaries in the fight against insurgents in that northern province of Mozambique.

“The Mozambican state remains committed to fighting terrorism in Mozambique. At this time, the support that the Mozambican state has requested is surveillance at the borders in order not to let criminals into our territory,” said Jaime Neto, without giving details of the support requested by the country.

Several segments of society, including the main opposition party (Renamo), have criticised an alleged involvement of mercenaries in the fight against insurgents who, since October 2017, have led armed attacks in Cabo Delgado, incursions that have caused the death of at least 1,059 people in districts further north in the province.

Jaime Neto, who was speaking on Thursday at a press conference in Maputo, said that Mozambicans are at the forefront of the fight against armed groups, adding that the state will also take measures so that this model of destruction adopted by the insurgents does not grow or spread to more regions of the country.

“The Mozambicans are in the fight and we are proud to be fighting this fight,” he said.

Several researchers and academics have highlighted that in responding to the armed incursions in northern Mozambique, cooperation from Tanzania, a country with which two Mozambican provinces border (including Cabo Delgado), is fundamental.

The two governments have already expressed their intention to concerted efforts to stop armed incursions at the border, but without giving details of the cooperation model to be adopted.

“It is an area that should effectively be defended, and the two countries are facing the same phenomenon,” said Verónica Macamo, Mozambique’s minister of foreign affairs and cooperation on Wednesday.

On 19 May, the troika of the Politics, Defence and Security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe, and pledged to support the government of Mozambique in the fight against the armed groups in Cabo Delgado, without, however, going into further details.

Cabo Delgado province has been under attack since October 2017 by insurgents, classified since the beginning of the year by the Mozambican and international authorities as a terrorist threat.

On Wednesday, armed groups invaded the port of Mocímboa da Praia and the confrontations left an unknown number of people dead.

“The enemy infiltrated several neighbourhoods, dressed as civilians and benefiting from complicity, attacking the village from the inside, causing destruction, looting and murder of defenceless citizens, with sabotage manoeuvres and attacks on naval means of rescue from the port of Mocímboa da Praia,” said the minister of defence.

Mocímboa da Praia is one of the main villages in the province, located 70 kilometres south of the construction area of the natural gas exploration project conducted by several international oil companies and led by Total.

In the last seven days, the insurgents carried out sequential attacks on the villages of Anga, Buji, Ausse and the host village of Mocímboa da Praia and, according to data from government forces, at least 59 “terrorists” were killed.

Source: Lusa