Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi on Monday called on Mozambicans who were part of rebel groups in Cabo Delgado to stop fleeing and hand themselves over to the Defence and Security Forces (FDS).
“We wanted to invite you, alone, not to wait for death by persecution, that is not the intention of the FDS: in an orderly way, give yourselves up, so that you are not shot, because you have nowhere to go,” he said.
Nyusi was speaking during the ceremonies for the Day of Peace, which is marked today in Mozambique, a holiday alluding to the signing of the General Peace Agreement in 1992 between the government of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).
In Cabo Delgado (northern Mozambique), some were recruited, others voluntarily joined insurgent groups, which now appear to be fleeing due to a joint military offensive.
“They left a destroyed village, they are afraid or sorry to go back there, and they are running from one place to another being pursued endlessly,” Nyusi said, in the face of military operations with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have been regaining ground from the insurgents since July.
“You saw that before yesterday,” Saturday, Nyusi said, giving the example of protecting the population during an incident with insurgents.
As he described it, it was an “attempt that scared the population of Namitile where the enemy shot into the air to try to recover some women from Niassa”, a neighbouring province.
“These women are with us, we will protect them, and the enemy cannot rescue them,” he said.
Filipe Nyusi said that in Cabo Delgado, “the fighting is happening” and “the enemy will not find a permanent space” after the “destruction of the Mbau base, Siri 1, Siri 2 and other bases” where the “enemy was hiding”.
“We are sure that there are leaders of these forces who are fleeing, even out of the country,” he added.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but terrorised by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The conflict 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.
