People are posing as terrorists to drive people away and loot villages in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, the provincial police commander said on Monday.
“There are opportunists who pass themselves off as terrorists and set fire to houses to scare people away so they can steal,” said Vicente Chicote, at an agent promotion event.
The most recent case occurred on Sunday, in the attack on a village in Ancuabe, whose population was evicted in a stampede.
Some neighbors stayed behind to try to find the perpetrators of the attack and grabbed the son of a family from the village, and four others were also recognized but fled.
They don’t deserve to be afraid, not even a little bit,” the commander said, admitting one day to posting photos.
The case was chosen to illustrate the diversity of threats that agents will face in Cabo Delgado, demanding greater rigor in police action.
“We have witnessed some acts of indiscipline that are not compatible with the behavior of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique,” he said, calling for a “new dynamism.”
In June, the Minister of the Interior, Arsénia Massingue, criticized the actions of several agents, denouncing that some inform the enemy, listing a set of “deviations” that she wants to see eradicated from the corporation.
The statements come at a time when the military offensive near the area destined for gas projects has pushed the armed groups towards the south of the province.
A resident source in the village of Chachacha, district of Meluco, reported this Monday that On Sunday, three bodies with signs of violence were discovered along the Messalo river.
Four days earlier, villagers discovered in the middle of the bush the body of an elderly woman who apparently starved to death while hiding from the attacks.
A source from the local forces reported an ambush carried out by militiamen against an armed group, on Friday, further north, in the village of Nova Família, Muidumbe district.
In the operation, two presumed rebels were killed and buried, without being recognized by the population.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.
The insurgency led a year ago to a military response by Rwandan forces and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts close to gas projects, but provoking a new wave of attacks in other areas, closer to Pemba, provincial capital.
There are some 800,000 internally displaced persons due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and some 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
It is estimated that half of the affected population are children and young people up to 20 years old, reflecting the age pyramid of the country.
Source: Observadora
