Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi acknowledged this Wednesday that terrorism, which has affected Cabo Delgado province for six years, is a “serious and new threat to peace”, but stressed that it is not a religious conflict.
“A serious and new threat to peace in Mozambique is terrorism, a phenomenon that has affected our country, and more specifically the province of Cabo Delgado, since October 2017. The brutality with which the terrorists operate has made it clear that this is not a religious conflict, but a phenomenon caused by factors such as money laundering, drug trafficking, waste of mineral resources and other types of crime,” the president said in Maputo during the ceremony. dedicated to the 31st anniversary of the General Peace Agreement between Renamo and the Mozambican authorities.
The first insurgent attack occurred on October 5, 2017, in the Mocimboa da Praia region of Cabo Delgado province, with the Islamic State terrorist organization claiming responsibility for some of these attacks.
Since 2017, the conflict in northern Mozambique has forced more than a million people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and killed nearly 4,000 people, according to the ACLED Conflict Recording Project.
“As we previously stated, the terrorists are no longer in the villages, we have eliminated their main bases and they have begun to act defensively and in small groups, carrying out small sporadic attacks to deprive the population of food and perpetuate the terror. Improved order and tranquility, the population is returning en masse to their places of origin, resuming their normal lives,” said Filipe Nyusi.
In the same speech, the head of state said that at the moment, “the big challenge is the restoration of infrastructure and the strengthening of social cohesion” in Cabo Delgado, whose actions are carried out within the framework of the strategic program for the integrated development of the northern zone, “which enjoys the support of several cooperation partners.”
In the province of Cabo Delgado, the Mozambique Armed Defense Forces have been fighting terrorism – attacks that have been occurring since October 2017 and which have led to the promotion of natural gas projects in the region – since July 2021, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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