Mozambique: Two Metuge villages on alert after suspected rebels movement

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Mozambique: Two Metuge villages on alert after suspected rebels movement

4:11 CAT | 26 Nov 2024

File photo: Integrity

The residents of Nampipi and Muiriti villages in Metuge district, Cabo Delgado province, are on alert due to the movement of suspected rebels, local sources told Lusa today.

“When I got back from my machamba [agricultural plot] on Monday, the whole area was on alert; terrorists were seen in the forest,” said one farmer from Metuge, located almost 40 kilometres from the provincial capital, Pemba.

The suspected rebels were seen in the forest between Nampipi and Muiriti, via Quissanga, at around 15:00 on Monday. It was a group of unknown numbers, holding weapons, including knives, sources told Lusa.

“My cousin called me on the run to warn me that there were men in the forests of Muiriti. I ran home and collected my family,” said another source, also speaking from Metuge.

Nampipi and Muiriti are among the main production areas of Metuge and the movement of rebels in the areas has been worrying farmers, who fear the impact of a possible restriction on movement in a month in which the 2024-2025 agricultural campaign officially began in Mozambique.

“If this doesn’t happen we will die of hunger because many farmers depend on these two areas,” another farmer told Lusa from Metuge.

Since October 2017, the province of Cabo Delgado, rich in natural gas reserves, has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the fundamentalist Islamic State group.

The last major attack took place on May 10 and 11, in the district headquarters of Macomia, with around a hundred insurgents looting the town, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambican Defense and Security Forces and Rwandan military, who support Mozambique in the fight against the rebels.

Source: Lusa