Terrorists Kidnap And Murder In Nangade
Maputo, 6 Jan (AIM) – Despite the current “Vulcao IV” offensive waged by the Mozambican armed forces and their Rwandan and SADC (Southern African Development Community) allies, islamist terrorists are continuing to attack villages in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
According to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, on Wednesday terrorists kidnapped eight people working on their fields in Chacamba village in Nangade district, about eight kilometres from the district capital, Nangade town. Seven of these captives were later released, but the eighth was beheaded.
Updating the information about the jihadist attacks against three villages in Muidumbe district, on New Year’s Eve, “Mediadfax” says the terrorists murdered ten villagers, and beheaded all of them.
When the bodies of these victims were recovered, they were found to be missing some body parts, leading to suspicions that the terrorists are involved in trafficking in human organs.
Meanwhile, while tourist establishments were doing a roaring trade in parts of Mozambique, in Cabo Delgado the occupation rate was only 25 per cent, although under normal circumstances December and January are the height of the tourism season.
Mohamed Abdula, speaking in representation of the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA), during a Thursday meeting in Maputo drawing up a balance sheet of the festive season, said that a survey of the business sector had given worrying results for Cabo Delgado, particularly in tourism.
Nonetheless, there were some bright spots – thus the demand for tourism services was considerably higher than in 2021, when the occupancy rate was less than 20 per cent.
Abdula said this could result from the advances made by the Mozambican armed forces and their allies against the terrorists in the Northern Operational Theatre.
The same study showed that, in southern Mozambique, occupancy rates were high – reaching 100 per cent in the Tofo, Bilene and Vilanculo resorts, about 90 per cent in Maputo city, and over 80 per cent in Ponta do Ouro, on the border with the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal.
Despite its proximity to Cabo Delgado, the tourism occupancy rate in Nampula province was around 60 per cent. These figures suggest a striking recovery by the tourism industry after the near collapse in 2020-2021 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
(AIM)
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