Nuns warn of “climate of fear” in northern Mozambique

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Nuns warn of “climate of fear” in northern Mozambique

4:50 CAT | 26 Nov 2019

Photo: Plataforma Media

Northern Mozambique has been living “in a climate of fear and insecurity for the past two years” in the face of attacks targeting the people, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery, a religious congregation in Mocímboa da Praia, warn today.

Sister Katia Rejane Saci, a nun who in October accompanied Mariaelena Aceti, General Councillor of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, on a visit to Mocimboa da Praia, says that “hidden powers” want to “impose their own interests, by killing people, burning villages and sowing destruction everywhere”.

“On the way to Mocimboa da Praia, [our] eyes saw the marks of the destruction of Cyclone Kenneth and of the attacks by armed groups,” Sister Katia Saci is quoted as saying in a note from the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation (ACN).

For ACN, the testimony of the nun, published on the congregation’s website, “sheds light on the degree of violence, destruction and fear that has hit this area of Mozambique since 2017, when the armed attacks, which have already killed around 300 people, began, leaving thousands of people displaced, and an appalling trail of destruction with villages practically reduced to rubble.”

On November 16, “one more of these attacks occurred, this time in Miangalewa, Muidumbe District, Cabo Delgado Province,” the AIS Foundation statement relates. The balance is once again tragic: three dead, houses burned down, destruction of agricultural inputs,” it adds.

“The situation in the region is deteriorating and people are leaving their villages,” a situation that has already led to an alert from the bishop of Pemba, Fernando Luís Lisboa.

Bishop Lisboa, quoted in the same note, warns that “the enemy has no face” and, despite the presence of security forces, “the attacks continue unabated”.

The ACN Foundation said that while the bishop did not identify the attackers, “there is a growing belief that the northern region of Mozambique could be in the sights of jihadist groups.”

In September, the institution noted that the self-proclaimed Islamic State had claimed its first attack on what it called “a Christian village”. “The localities of Mbau, Quitejaro and Cobre were meanwhile targeted by attacks also claimed by the jihadists,” the foundation notes.

Source: Lusa