Mozambique: Terrorists are “new form of colonialism” – AIM report | Watch

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Mozambique: Terrorists are “new form of colonialism” – AIM report | Watch

9:23 CAT | 10 Aug 2022

Screen grab: Miramar

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday declared that the purposes of the terrorist attacks against the northern province of Cabo Delgado is to loot the country’s natural resources.

Speaking in Maputo at the opening of the Seventh National Youth Conference, Nyusi described jihadi terrorism as “a new form of colonialism”, warning that “these groups manipulate the consciousness of young people with the purpose of pillaging the resources existing in the territory and perpetuating the poverty and suffering of Mozambicans”.

“In our country, we are living a situation of terrorism created and financed by forces of evil”, he said. “If these people have weapons, that raises the question – where do these guns come from?”.

External forces, whom Nyusi did not name, were financing terrorism. “They want to make money by creating disorder. Their goal is to use young people to create instability. Unfortunately, some minds, and not only of youths, are being financed and used with the purpose of recolonizing Africa. They are using money to manipulate the awareness of young people to join in the disorder and carry out acts against their own country, against their own communities, but never against the nations who are financing them”.

Nyusi praised the courage of the young soldiers in the defence and security forces who are fighting terrorism in Cabo Delgado. That very morning, he said, he had received information that operations “are under way in the dense bush between the Messalo and Montepuez rivers. The terrorists are in disarray and are fleeing, but our forces must pursue them”.

Nyusi urged young Mozambicans to avoid all acts that compromise the sovereignty of the country. He recognised the severe shortage of jobs for young people but warned that rioting is no solution.

“We build a new road, then somebody comes along and burns tyres, and damages the road. After this damage, cars might have accidents, and who gains from this?”, Nyusi asked. (He was referring to barricades of burning tyres, that some protestors erected during an abortive demonstration against the rising cost of living on 14 July in Maputo).

Nyusi pledged that the government will continue to invest in technical and professional training for young people, “so that they are equipped with the knowledge to create self-employment or to gain access to various job opportunities in development projects”.

Watch the Miramar report.