About 50,000 affected by torrential rain in southern Mozambique
Images: @Verdade
A report by the Attorney General of the Republic shortly to be presented to the Assembly of the Republic indicates that Alleged members of the insurgent groups terrorising the province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, and nicknamed “Al Shaabab”, currently detained by the authorities and indicted in 19 cases total 339 men and women, of whom 275 are in pre-trial detention.
The report cites their barbaric acts as “crimes against life” and indicates that the criminal proceedings against Andre Hannekom were dropped.
In the information soon to be presented to MPs, Beatriz Buchili admits that the insurgents pose a challenge to the government.
“In some parts of the province of Cabo Delgado, especially the districts of Macomia, Palma, Mocímboa da Praia, Quissanga and Nangade, we have been registering attacks on the populations and state institutions, in particular those linked to the Defence and Security Forces.”
“These individuals initially used machetes and other cutting weapons to threaten and rob the population, as well as inciting them to collective disobedience to the law, but they now use firearms, and act in larger groups” the PGR states, accusing them of “crimes against life”.
The Attorney General points to an increase in attacks by the “Al Shabaab” during the past year “with homicides and corporal offences, practised barbarously and cruelly, causing mourning and sadness within the communities, in addition to forcing the populations to leave their places of residence in search of refuge, which suggests an organisation and structuring of those groups”.
Although faceless, the “Shaababes”, a designation given to the insurgents by local residents because they are mostly young and the expression means “the youth” in Arabic, continue to spread fear in Cabo Delgado, with attacks reported in at least six of the 15 districts.
“In connection with these facts, 19 cases were opened, with 339 defendants, including both men and women, of whom 275 were in preventive custody and 64, in provisional freedom by means of a Term of Identity and Residence,” Buchili will aannounce, also indicating that “in 12 cases charges were filed and sent to the Judicial Court of the Province of Cabo Delgado, and seven preliminary proceedings were in preparation”.
Between November 2017 and December 2018, @Verdade and other media covering the Cabo Delgado insurgency on the ground counted at least 288 casualties, including 148 civilians, 78 members of the Mozambique Defence and Security Forces, and 62 “Shaababes”.
Criminal proceedings against Andre Hannekom dropped
The report, to which @Verdade has had access, highlights Case No. 356/2/P/2018, filed on December 17, 2018. “These are crimes of qualified homicide, prohibited weapons, association to commit crime, instigation or public order and tranquillity, mercenarism, terrorism and crime against the organisation of the State, in which five individuals of Mozambican, Tanzanian and South African nationality are indicted for involvement in military preparation and logistical assistance, translated into the provision of food and ordering payment to a group of armed individuals who carried out attacks in the District of Palma, Province of Cabo Delgado. In the case of five defendants in preventive detention, an indictment was filed and sent to the Judicial Court of the Province of Cabo Delgado on December 24, 2018. However, one of the defendants, a South African national, was killed on January 23 of 2019, the criminal procedure in relation to him being extinguished,” the report reads.
In her report, Buchili is to urge the adoption of “effective mechanisms of prevention and repression, in order to guarantee the tranquillity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of our State”.
By Adérito Caldeira
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