Mozambique: US ‘well aware’ of growing terrorist threats – Nathan Sales

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Mozambique: US ‘well aware’ of growing terrorist threats – Nathan Sales

7:15 CAT | 26 Jun 2020

Photo: Fox News

The US is ‘well aware’ of the increasing level of terrorist attacks in northern Mozambique, which worries them, and is examining ways in which they can combat violence in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, a US diplomat said.

The concern was expressed by Nathan Sales, travelling ambassador and Coordinator of the Counterterrorism Office of the US State Department, who was speaking at a conference call from Washington, in which Lusa participated, on the situation in Mozambique.

“Mozambique has in recent months suffered greatly from increasing activity by ISIS-affiliated and ISIS-inspired terrorists in the northern part of the country in Cabo Delgado. It’s something that we are gravely concerned about and we are taking a close look at to see how we can assist.” he said on Wednesday.

Sales stressed that the US has a counterterrorism capacity like no other country.

“We don’t just parachute in, kill some bad guys, take some money and leave. What we do is make sustained and durable investments in the capabilities of our local partners to ensure that they are able to do in their homelands what we do in our homelands: investigate and prosecute criminals, secure the borders, crack down on terrorism financing, and advance counternarratives to prevent terrorist radicalization and recruitment.” he said.

“So we are well aware of the increasing threat levels in Mozambique and looking at ways that we can assist.” he said.

Cabo Delgado province, where the largest private investment in Africa for natural gas exploration is advancing, has been under attack since October 2017 by insurgents, classified since the beginning of the year by Mozambican and international authorities as a terrorist threat.

In their raids, in addition to destroying villages in the north of the province, armed groups have attacked state institutions and, in some cases, forced public officials and state employees to seek refuge elsewhere.

In two and a half years of conflict in northern Mozambique, it is estimated that at least 600 people have died and more than 200,000 have been affected, forcing them to seek refuge in safer places.

Please, read bellow the original transcript of the ‘Special Briefing via Telephone of Ambassador-at-Large Nathan Sales, Coordinator for Counterterrorism on June 24, 2020

Moderator: Thank you very much for that. Our next question comes to us from Pearl Matibe with Mail & Guardian. Please go ahead.

Question: Thank you very much, Ambassador. Appreciate your availability today. It does strike me as odd – and I wanted to ask you – is it a coincidence that you launched this report today at 8:30, had the Secretary of State at the podium at 10 o’clock, half an hour before President Filipe Nyusi of Mozambique was delivering his speech at the Corporate Council on Africa? So that’s my one question. But then again, at the same time, Mozambique itself does not have an action plan on countering violent extremism. Are you working with them, or do you have any plans to train Mozambique on security, as the U.S. has done in years past? Thank you.

Ambassador Sales: Thanks for the question. The first one is easy. Pure coincidence. We have been planning this rollout for some time.

On Mozambique in particular, as you know, Mozambique has in recent months suffered greatly from increasing activity by ISIS-affiliated and ISIS-inspired terrorists in the northern part of the country in Cabo Delgado. It’s something that we are gravely concerned about and we are taking a close look at to see how we can assist.

I can tell you that the United States does counterterrorism capacity building like nobody else in the world. We don’t just parachute in, kill some bad guys, take some money and leave. What we do is make sustained and durable investments in the capabilities of our local partners to ensure that they are able to do in their homelands what we do in our homelands: investigate and prosecute criminals, secure the borders, crack down on terrorism financing, and advance counternarratives to prevent terrorist radicalisation and recruitment. So we are well aware of the increasing threat levels in Mozambique and looking at ways that we can assist.