Video Of Burning Corpses Was Shot In Nangade

Video Of Burning Corpses Was Shot In Nangade

Maputo, 23 Jan (AIM) – The video showing members of the SADC military mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) throwing bodies of dead jihadists onto a bonfire appears to be genuine and was filmed in Nangade district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Unnamed military sources, cited in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, said the incident occurred in the area of Nkonga, and was filmed by a camera on a cellphone last November. Earlier this month, the video was circulated on social media.

The bodies, according to the paper’s sources, were burned shortly after SAMIM forces had attacked a terrorist base in Nkonga, regarded as the largest such base in the district. SAMIM launched its attack on the base after two ambushes by the jihadists against troops from Tanzania and Lesotho.

The video shows two corpses being flung onto a pile of burning material. One of the soldiers involved was wearing a South African flag on his armband.

Last week SAMIM announced that it was setting up a commission of inquiry to ascertain the circumstances under which soldiers who appeared to be South African members of the SADC force were burning corpses. A joint team from SADC and the South African armed forces arrived on 13 January in the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba, to begin investigating the incident.

Some Mozambican civil society organizations have called for a fully independent investigation, arguing that it is unwise for SAMIM to investigate the behaviour of its own forces.

Furthermore, the claim that the bodies were those of dead jihadists is just an assumption. One prominent civil society activist, Adrian Nuvunga, in a television interview, pointed out that they might be the corpses of civilians held prisoner by the terrorist.
(AIM)
Pf/