Watch: Priest speaks of destruction, first visit to liberated Mocímboa | Mozambique

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Watch: Priest speaks of destruction, first visit to liberated Mocímboa | Mozambique

7:33 CAT | 01 Sep 2021

Screen grab: VOA/ TVM / Rádio Sem Fronteiras – 102.1MHz – Pemba'

A cross on the altar and little else remains of the church in the centre of Mocímboa da Praia, according to Father Latifo Fonseca, after the first visit of a Catholic representative to that Cabo Delgado town freed from insurgent groups.

“The church of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, as a building, is in fact gone. But on the altar, we found the sacred sign, the sign of the cross. No bomb has been able to destroy that cross,” he told TVM.

Latifo Fonseca ‘Kwiriwi’, priest and missionary of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, one of those in charge of radio in the Diocese of Pemba, was part of a group of local journalists, escorted by the military, who visited Mocímboa da Praia and Mbau on Friday and Saturday.

From the trip, he retained the picture of spaces taken over by the bush, by the grass, where you can only find military personnel or, in one place or another, monkeys, crows and some stray dogs.

“There are signs of war, of destruction, of the presence of people who do not want development, of brothers destroying their own property and family members” mistreating each other, he said.

With an airport at the crossroads of the main northern roads, the port town had been occupied by insurgents for about a year until joint forces from Mozambique and Rwanda regained control of the area on 8 August.

The parish church was located on one side of the triangular square in the centre of Mocímboa, next to the sports club, all built in the Portuguese colonial era.

Also destroyed was the Catholic University’s Resource Centre, where a distance learning department operated, Fonseca said.

According to what he told Lusa today, the Diocese aims to rebuild the spaces.

But it is still too early to know when, since not even the return of the Catholic presence is foreseen: “it is premature to say”, he said.

“But, deep down, the presence of military personnel gives a sign of hope, that one day it will be possible to return to Mocímboa da Praia”, which requires tireless work, determination and commitment.

“We saw that among the military,” he said.

Watch the TVM report on Father Latiifo’s visit. It was posted on Youtube, under the title “Missionary Experience in Mocímboa da Praia”, by’ Rádio Sem Fronteiras – 102.1MHz – Pemba’.

The armed conflict between military forces and insurgents in Cabo Delgado has led to more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

The fight against the insurgents gained new momentum after the reconquest of Mocímboa da Praia, where the rebels carried out their first attack in October 2017.

The village that the population abandoned is located 70 kilometres south of the construction area of the natural gas exploration project led by several international oil companies and led by Total.

Source: Lusa