Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Secretary of State in the northern province of Cabo Delgado recently stated that members of the terrorist groups operating in the region are seeking to abandon violent extremism to return to their communities of origin.
“In one way or another, there are people [members of the non-state armed group] who are returning and these people, on the one hand, must deserve some treatment, not in a discriminatory way, but also to integrate them in a more sustainable way to prevent many of them from returning [to the terrorist ranks],” António Supeia explained.
The government official did not give a number or say to which communities these individuals were returning, but stressed that repentant terrorists could be afraid of returning to the community for fear of reprisals.
“Some people do not return because they cannot find an interlocutor and are afraid to hand themselves in to the Defence and Security Forces,” he said.
Transitional rehabilitation centres
To ease the fear of returning to civilian life, the government and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) plan to create transitional centres for people involved in terrorism – rehabilitation centres for terrorists who voluntarily abandon violent extremism.
“Rehabilitation can take place in closed centres, where people stay and benefit from these services for a while. But it can also happen in open centres within communities,” explains Orly Maya, IOM consultant and project proponent.
In principle, transitional centres for people involved in terrorism will be set up in Mocímboa da Praia, Macomia and Muidumbe.
DW Africa asked Cabo Delgado residents what they thought. Macomia resident Joaquim José welcomed the idea. “I think they’re doing the right thing by allowing these people to return home. I hope that when they return, the former terrorists will definitely regret what they did and come stay with us,” he says.
Feliciano Pedro, resident of Chiúre, a district also devastated by armed attacks, sees no problem in forgiving terrorists who decide to leave everything behind and return to civilian life.
“The terrorists who are causing us suffering, beheading us, when they come out of the woods and abandon their evil, they need to come out in public and swear their total severance from the extremists,” he argues. “We need to instil in them the idea that they were wrong and need to redeem themselves.”
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