Two girls escape, speak of a dense dark forest that harbours an insurgents’ base in Cabo Delgado – Mediafax

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Two girls escape, speak of a dense dark forest that harbours an insurgents’ base in Cabo Delgado – Mediafax

4:55 CAT | 22 May 2020

File- For illustration purposes only. Aerial view of military operation in Cabo Delgado. [Source.: Egdio Vaz / Facebook]

A very dark and sinister place, with dense forest and vegetation cover, is how the two girls from Mocímboa da Praia described to the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) the insurgent base in northern Cabo Delgado from which they escaped, MediaFax reports.

The two girls were kidnapped days earlier from Ulo village, Mocímboa da Praia, and arrived in Mocímboa da Praia’s Milamba neighbourhood on Friday night (May 15) after escaping from the insurgents’ sinister camp near the Messalo river.

According to a MediaFax source, the girls said that the insurgents’ base is located amid vegetation so dense that the place is always dark, necessitating the permanent use of lamps and lanterns, even during the day.

The girls said that they saw a great number of insurgents of several nationalities at the base, and that helicopters had been flying over and bombing the region, but the insurgent camp had not yet been hit.

The base is described as having a strong perimeter fence and two structures – one for the leaders of the group, who receive reports of operations and the other structure for soldiers and other members of the insurgency terrorising Cabo Delgado.

The two girls said that the women in the camp were forced to sleep naked so as to minimise the likelihood of them escaping, and any women abducted from one single place are separated from each other in order to deter the hatching of escape plans.

The girls managed to escape when they went to the well to fetch water without their usual insurgent escort. They then spent five days in the bush, passing through first Nanquidunga and then Anga villages before finally reaching Mocimboa da Praia.

The girls apparently understand that the insurgents are preparing to carry out a raid on the island of Nhonge, near the village of Ulo, and a resident of Mocimboa da Praia’s Milamba neighbourhood has confirmed that they were taken by helicopter to the city of Pemba on Monday (May 18) to give the defence and security forces any more information that may be of help in the fight against the insurgents.

Source: Mediafax