Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mohammedan Community of Mozambique [Comunidade Maomentana de Moçambique] said on Wednesday that more than 100 families have left the country due to the wave of kidnappings over the last 13 years, adding that the victims who have remained in the country suffer threats and do not trust the authorities.
‘More than 100 families have already left Mozambique because of the kidnappings and because there is no clarification that satisfies our communities,’ said Salim Omar, president of the Mohammedan Community of Mozambique, during a press conference in Maputo today.
According to Salim Omar, the families of the victims who chose to remain in the country don’t trust the police and have been threatened when they try to collaborate with the authorities, adding that the kidnappers have inside information about the cases.
‘The victims’ families say that when they are asked by the police or the prosecutor’s office, they receive phone calls from people telling them to be careful or they will die (…). The victims distrust the police,’ said the Mohammedan leader.
Salim Omar also criticised the lack of results from the anti-kidnapping brigade, a specialised police unit President Filipe Nyusi announced in 2021.
‘We’ve been talking about the anti-kidnapping brigade for two years, and we still haven’t seen any results from this brigade. Even more seriously, we don’t know who is part of this brigade, who is running it,’ said Salim Omar.
The Community calls for a ‘frank dialogue’ with the government and is open to creating a support group for investigations to stop this wave.
‘We demand constructive and open dialogue from the state (…). The investigations must have results and an outcome. For 13 years, the investigations have had no outcome (…). We’re tired. We’re reaching exhaustion, and every day, people are leaving,’ he concluded.
The wave of kidnappings in Mozambique has affected businesspeople and their families, especially people of Asian descent, a group that dominates commerce in the urban centres of the country’s provincial capitals.
Since 2011, according to figures released by the interior minister in March of this year, the Mozambican police have recorded a total of 185 cases of kidnapping, and more than 288 people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime.
‘Everything indicates that Maputo has the highest trend and incidence of criminal cases of kidnapping, followed by the province of Maputo and finally Sofala, with 103, 41 and 18 cases recorded, respectively,’ said Pascoal Ronda then.
Most of the kidnappings committed in Mozambique are prepared outside the country, especially in South Africa, which makes it difficult to combat this type of crime, the Attorney General, Beatriz Buchili, said in parliament in April, adding that the authorities also believe that some of the masterminds live in that neighbouring country.
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