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FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. A Rwandan soldier on patrol in the deserted port city in August 2021. ]File photo: AFP]
Abdul Rassul was living in Mocímboa da Praia’s Unidade neighbourhood, opposite the Marine barracks, when the terrorists invaded the town in March, 2020. Today, he resides in the Expansao neighbourhood, in Pemba.
In conversation with ‘Carta’, Rassul, a widowed civil servant, began by explaining that he arrived in Mocímboa da Praia in April, 2017, from the district of Chiúre. When he arrived, the district of Mocímboa da Praia was full of foreign citizens, mostly of Somali, Tanzanian and Congolese origin. He says that, from 5:00 p.m. onwards, they trained with machetes, their faces covered.
He states that, at the time, everyone was concerned about the situation, and had denounced such acts several times, but without any judicial process being undertaken against those responsible.
With the authorities silent, the group carried out its first attack in the early hours of October 5, 2017.
“We all thought it was a pursuit action between the police and thieves, but then we heard that they attacked ‘Village X’, in Macomia, in Palma, and at dawn on March 23, we started to hear gunshots and people fleeing from one location to the other,” Rassul relates.
That day, Abdul Rassul was alone at home and had slept soundly, having the day before entertained himself with a few glasses of beer. But, around 4:00 a.m., he began to hear gunshots on the road and in the barracks. Frightened, he got up and called his neighbour, who told him to switch off his cell phone, because the “Al Shabab” were nearby.
Rassul at first thought of hiding in the barn on the roof of his house, but soon abandoned the plan, realising that the group often burned down houses.
For protection, Abdul Rassul went to hide in a grass patch in his backyard. Just days before, he had nearly burned it off, not realising that it was to become his safe haven.
“I lay down in the grass and cover myself with it. But I froze when four [terrorists] arrived at my house and started screaming ‘A guy lives here, let’s get him and kill him’. Then they broke down the door and looked for me, but they couldn’t find me,” he says.
Meanwhile, the military was losing the battle, the insurgents having stormed the control tower in the barracks, decimating elements of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS).
“Many soldiers died,” said Abdul Rassul. “Next to my house, there was a barbershop, where a kid was sleeping. Lucky for him, the terrorist sent to break down the door knew the kid and ended up not murdering him,” the interviewee reveals.
Three hours later, he says, they withdrew to another location. It was at this time that people started leaving the town, walking towards Auasse, where there was a military position.
“We walked until we couldn’t walk any more, then we started crawling, because we couldn’t stop. In Auasse [also spelt Awasse or Oasse], the population had already abandoned their homes and hidden in the woods. We had to rest in the military position, and the next day some transporters came and started to speculate on prices. As there was no alternative, some even bartered their belongings for transport, just to be able to leave that place,” he adds.
Rassul claims to have seen members of the military remove their uniforms and hide their weapons in order to save their own lives. It took him many days, he says, to overcome the trauma caused by the terrorist attack on March 23, 2020, which kick-started the terrorist attacks on towns and villages in districts affected by violent extremism in Cabo Delgado.
By Omardine Omar
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