Africa-Press – Mozambique. The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, wants to profit from Algeria’s “experience” in combating terrorism in the north of the country, recalling the support received during the liberation struggle.
“Mozambican women and men came from this country, whose acquired knowledge was replicated in the training camps, contributing decisively to, on the front line, accelerating the overthrow of the colonialism that oppressed us,” the head of state recalled in a message released during his visit to Algeria, referring to the military training that Samora Machel, first President of Mozambique, received in that country.
“At a time when we are facing terrorism, we express to this sister nation our interest in continuing to rely on its experience in preventing and combating this phenomenon. We want the seed sown by our leaders to germinate, develop, and bear fruit for us succulent and serve for all generations,” Filipe Nyusi added in the same message.
Mutual cooperation between the two countries is based on the General Cooperation Agreement signed by the Mozambican and Algerian governments on December 11, 1985, in Algiers, during the visit of Mozambique’s first president, Samora Machel.
The Mozambican Minister of National Defence, Cristóvão Chume, this Thursday confirmed attacks by insurgents in four districts of Cabo Delgado province, but assuring that this is not a “recrudescence” of terrorist activities in the north.
“I want to say that this is not what is happening, because if this were actually the case [a recrudescence of terrorist activities], we would be saying that there are districts or district headquarters that are occupied, without access to the population. What has happened is that there are groups small groups of terrorists who left their barracks in the Namarussia area – which we have said is their base – and went further south, attacking some villages and creating panic,” Cristóvão Chume said after a meeting with a high-ranking mission European Union level in Maputo.
This meeting came at a time when thousands of people fled their villages in the south of Cabo Delgado in recent weeks, after several attacks by terrorist groups – which have been registered since 2017 – seeking safety in other districts of that province and in neighbouring Nampula province.
“The situation in the province of Cabo Delgado remains stable, despite the latest events in the south of the province of Cabo Delgado. As is known, some villages in the districts of Quissanga, Metuge, Ancuabe and Chiùre, suffered some attacks, which led to a displacement of population further south, to the province of Nampula, and also to other districts of Cabo Delgado,” Minister Chume acknowledged.
“I want to say here that two or three armed terrorists who arrive in a village, where there is no Police or the Armed Forces presence, shoot in the air, burn two or three houses. And, in the era of communications that we have at our disposal, the message spreads very quickly and creates not only panic in those villages, but, of course, national and international panic,” Chume added.
According to the Minister of Defence, it is necessary to invest in development programs to “minimize the risk of radicalization” and “prevent the re-emergence of terrorism”.
Still, Chume warned: “We do not mean to say that there are no incidents of terrorism, yes there are. And we will continue to fight, but what happened in the past will not happen again. We are firm in this, but we will watch situations like these in Chiùre, in Metuge, and other areas, where there are some attacks that we cannot avoid”.
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