Mozambique: Northern governor calls for vigilance after latest IS attack
The governor of the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, Valige Tauabo, has asked the local population to remain vigilant following the latest terrorist attack in Mocímboa da Praia, where there is now a “relative calm”.
“Work continues normally. What happened in Naquitenge is not something to paralyse the activities and dreams of Cabo Delgado province,” said Valige Tauabo on Tuesday on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Balama graphite warehouse in Cabo Delgado.
This latest attack, claimed by the extremist organisation Islamic State through its propaganda channels, involved an incursion that left at least 10 dead in Naquitenge, a village in the interior of the district of Mocímboa da Praia, and which targeted a group of Christians, according to the terrorist organisation’s propaganda.
The governor of Cabo Delgado said the attack on Mocímboa da Praia was the result of persecution by the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and, during the flight, the insurgent groups passed through some villages and created panic.
According to Valige Tauabo, the population is moving around normally in that district of northern Mozambique.
“At the moment, there is a relative calm, and we salute the bravery of our Defence and Security Forces,” said the governor, asking the population to remain vigilant.
The new attack in Mocímboa da Praia took place less than a month after the announcement, on 25 August, by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Mozambique, Joaquim Rivas Mangrasse, of the elimination of the leader of terrorism in the country, Mozambican Bonomade Machude Omar, along with other members of the terrorist group’s leadership.
Bonomade Machude Omar, considered to be the leader of the radical Islamic State group in Mozambique, was targeted by the second phase of the Mozambican army’s so-called “Golpe Duro II” operation.
The extremist leader was described by several experts as “a symbiosis of brutality and vigilante” and is on the United States’ list of “global terrorists” and the target of European Union sanctions.
On Monday, Mozambique’s Defence Minister, Cristóvão Chume, classified the new rebel attack in Mocímboa da Praia as “natural and to be expected”, considering that the insurgents are trying to show that they are still active after the death of the group’s leader.
Cabo Delgado province has been facing armed insurgency for almost six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
On the ground in Cabo Delgado, the Armed Defence Forces of Mozambique have been fighting terrorism – in attacks that have been taking place since October 2017 and which are hampering the progress of natural gas production projects in the region – since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The conflict in northern Mozambique has already displaced a million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, while the Mozambican President this week admitted to “more than 2,000” fatalities.
Source » clubofmozambique
