HRW calls out Mozambique for using a militia to fight insurgents
Former Mozambican ‘Renamo’ rebel fighters receiving military training in Gorongosa's mountains on November 8, 2012. Mozambique’s local newspaper Evidencias in December reported that residents in Cabo Delgado accused militia forces of extorting money from people stopped at checkpoints. PHOTO | JINTY JACKSON | AFP
Lobby group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged Mozambique authorities to focus on improving the human rights training and professionalism of its regular troops and holding those responsible for abuses to account, while calling out the government using a militia group to fight insurgents.
HRW’s statements come after Mozambique’s government provided legal authority to an abusive militia to fight an Islamic State-linked armed group, locally known as al-Shabab, in the north of the country.
