Mozambique: US diplomat calls for ‘redoubled efforts’ to combat terrorism in Cabo Delgado

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Mozambique: US diplomat calls for ‘redoubled efforts’ to combat terrorism in Cabo Delgado

8:38 CAT | 27 Jan 2023

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks at a press conference at the Joaquim Chissano University facilities at the end of a two-day visit to Mozambique, in Maputo, Mozambique, 27 January 2023. Mozambique assumed last month its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. [Photo: Luisa Fonseca/Lusa]

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, speaking in Maputo on Friday, said that efforts must be stepped up to combat terrorism in Cabo Delgado, in the northern Mozambique, as part of a global response.

“We need to redouble efforts to repel terrorism and activities that affect citizens like those in Cabo Delgado and we are working closely with the government on that issue,” the diplomat said at a news conference at the end of her visit to Maputo, before leaving for Kenya.

“I had long discussions about Cabo Delgado during my two-day visit,” she said, adding without going into details: “We discussed with the government its strategy.”

According to the diplomat, the fight against terrorism must be “multifaceted … not only in the area of security, but also in dealing with the problems that people face every day.

“We are providing training and equipment for the police, but also supporting humanitarian needs of people who suffer from terrorism,” she added, recalling that the US is the largest donor to humanitarian programmes in Mozambique “and most are focused on Cabo Delgado.”

The problem, she stressed, is not unique to Mozambique.

“We see terrorists on the move and expanding [so] there has to be a global effort to deal with the problem,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield gave the example of Ghana, which she had visited on Wednesday, where the authorities had complained of being targeted by terrorists heading south towards countries on the coast.

“We see that happening here, too,” she said .

Cabo Delgado province has faced an armed insurgency for five years, with responsibility for some attacks claimed by the local affiliate of extremist group Islamic State.

Since July 2021, a military response to the insurgency, supported by Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has managed to liberate districts near natural gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.

The conflict has left around 1 million people displaced, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and some 4,000 dead, according to the conflict registration project ACLED.

Source: Lusa