Mozambique: “Terrorism is an injustice for those who freed the country” – Watch

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Mozambique: “Terrorism is an injustice for those who freed the country” – Watch

7:39 CAT | 21 May 2021

Photo: TVM

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, in his capacity as chairperson of the Association of Veterans of the National Liberation Struggle (ACLLN), on Thursday declared that the veterans must not be forced to relive the experiences of the past.

Then they had fought, and won, a war against Portuguese colonialism. Now the country is threatened by the terrorism installed in some districts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Speaking at the opening of the ACLLN’s third national conference, in the southern city of Matola, Nyusi said that the terrorism in Cabo Delgado “is an injustice against those who liberated the country. Veterans cannot return to relive the sad past. We cannot accept this injustice against our liberators”.

Terrorism, he continued, is already affecting veterans living in Cabo Delgado, “who have lost members of their families and the possessions which they earned with a great deal of sacrifice”.

“Today these veterans are also war-displaced people, who are living without resources for their own survival and that of their families, living in the bush or in places far from their homes”, added Nyusi.

“The enemies of our independence have come back in a new variation on sucking our blood and robbing us of our gains”, declared the President.

He paid tribute to those ACLLN members, who, even at an advanced age, are continuing to make “an undeniable contribution”, to the fight against the terrorists, winning “unequivocal victories”, even in the face of adversity.

“These members are not demanding that their voice be heard and recognised”, he said. “What they do demand is the preservation of what they won with their sweat. They are claiming their country which is today under attack”.

Nyusi thought it clear that terrorism had begun in Cabo Delgado because of that province’s wealth in natural resources.

“It is no accident that he phenomenon of terrorism began in Cabo Delgado”, he said. “We are not inventing perceptions. Cabo Delgado is the province where projects, structuring for the country’s future, are being implanted”.

Nyusi was referring most obviously to the natural gas liquefaction projects in the Afungi peninsula, but also to the extraction of precious stones (notably rubies), to one of the largest known deposits of graphite in the world, to the province’s arable land, and to its tourist potential.

Nyusi told the Conference he is pleased at the commitment shown by the young fighters of the defence and security forces, “who are fighting tenaciously” in the northern and central operational theatres, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. “This is a reality that our cooperation partners also recognise”, he said.

The northern operational theatre is Cabo Delgado, while the central theatre refers to Manica and Sofala provinces, where dissidents of the “Renamo Military Junta”, have rejected the peace agreement signed by Nyusi and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade in August 2019.

The ACLLN conference is being held on the eve of a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Frelimo Party scheduled for this weekend. Frelimo’s women’s and youth organisations, the OMM and OJM, are also holding conferences prior to the Central Committee meeting.

Watch the TVM reports below.