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Maputo battles emboldened insurgents in the north

Tuesday March 03 2020
child

A child plays near a house destroyed by cyclone Idai in 2019. Mozambique is still recovering from deadly cyclones, but now faces threats of instability from insurgents. PHOTO | AFP

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

A year after the deadly Tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth — the worst natural disasters to hit southern Africa in at least two decades — Mozambique seeks to recover but faces a new threat from insurgents. 

President Filipe Nyusi talked of the country’s recovery when he was sworn in four weeks ago to serve his second and last term. The cyclones killed at least 1,000 people in the country, which was the hardest hit in the region, and caused damage in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania.

The insurgents are attacking the gas-rich northern province of Cabo Delgado near the border with Tanzania. The mega oil and gas projects in the area have put Mozambique on the world’s top 10 list of natural gas producers.

President Nyusi has visited the area twice this year alone in an attempt to stop insurgent attacks in the region, which is about 1,663km north of Maputo. It boasts natural gas and minerals such as gold, grenadines, aquamarines, tourmalines, blue topaz and green tourmalines, and attracts many foreigners.

Militants have targeted remote communities in the gas-rich province since October 2017, killing more than 250 people and forcing thousands from their homes despite a heavy police and military presence.

Earlier this month, the UN Refugee Agency said at least 100,000 people were displaced throughout the province as a result of the escalation of violence adding that at least 28 attacks were carried out since the beginning of the year, and the violence is spreading towards the province's south.

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Since October 2017, the insurgents have killed more than 700 people, according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders. However, local NGOs say attacks by insurgents in Cabo Delgado Province have killed 350 people and 154,400 others have lost their property or been displaced. However, the government disputes the figures.

“Armed groups have been randomly targeting local villages and terrorising the local population,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement, adding, “Those fleeing speak of killings, maiming, and torture, burnt homes, destroyed crops and shops. We have reports of beheadings, kidnappings and disappearances of women and children.”

President Nyusi appealed to diplomatic corps accredited in Maputo and international partners to provide the support they have been pledging to put an end to the armed violence in the north of the country.

President Nyusi attributed attacks in the middle of the country to Renamo fighters and 20 people have been killed since August last year due to attacks targeting civilians and soldiers perpetrated by Renamo’s military wing.

“The government will encourage the main opposition party to respect the peace accord signed in August last year,” said President Nyusi.

Cabo Delgado and Nampula were some of the hardest-hit regions in Mozambique during the storms. About 400,000 people reportedly lost their homes and livelihoods.

Mozambique has acknowledged that it may need external assistance to fight insurgents and President Nyusi sent an envoy to Angola to seek military support to fight the insurgents. The country has also asked the US, Russia and France for help.

The French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Yves Le Drian, US Military attaché in Maputo Fergal James O’Reilly and the Russian ambassador to Mozambique Alexander Surikov have all expressed their countries’ willingness to help.

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