The population of southern Cabo Delgado, a Mozambican province that has been the scene of armed violence for five years, reported this Wednesday the discovery of four neighbors murdered in the countryside.
A resident of Mbonge, in the district of Ancuabe, witnessed the collection of the bodies of two residents of the village, father and son, found dead with signs of violence on the road that connects the farming areas with the houses.
“The victims lived in the town and returned from the machamba (garden) in the afternoon,” he reported on Tuesday.
According to the same source, the bodies were found on the banks of the Muaguide River, hours after the neighbors found the delay of both strange. that raised suspicions due to insecurity in Ancuabewith attacks since June.
The district is about 100 kilometers from Pemba, the provincial capital.
Another resident of Metoro, in the same district, reconstructed the report of relatives of an elderly couple found dead in an orchard 10 kilometers from the population center, also with signs of aggression.
“We are crying” with the situation, he said, and there is “fear” of returning to the fields, said another neighbor.
The case was confirmed by different local sources.
The local population and authorities suspect that these deaths along the Muaguide River and in the vicinity of Metoro they are the work of an armed group that hides in the forests of that area.
On Monday, an unidentified group of hooded and armed men looted and burned houses in Nacuale, another village in the district.
An insurgent movement whose origins remain unclear has been terrorizing Cabo Delgado since October 2017.
A military offensive with the support of several African countries has liberated the areas surrounding the gas projects in northern Cabo Delgado for a year, but scattered groups have attacked other parts of the province.
Since June, violence has broken out in southern Ancuabe, near Pemba, the provincial capital.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned in July of the seriousness of these new attacks, which caused the displacement of 36,000 people in districts hitherto considered safe.
The figure is added to the approximately 800,000 displaced people that the wave of violence has already caused, with the estimated death toll around at least 4,000 victims.
Source: Observadora
