Presidente da República, Filipe Nyusi, deposita coroa de flores na Praça dos Heróis Moçambicanos por ocasião do 3 de Fevereiro, Dia dos Heróis Moçambicanos
Maputo, 3 Feb (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Saturday urged the islamist terrorists operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado to repent of their crimes and abandon the ranks of the jihadists.
Speaking in Maputo, at a ceremony marking Mozambican Heroes’ Day, the anniversary of the assassination of the founder and first President of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), Eduardo Mondlane, on 3 February 1969, Nyusi warned that the fight against terrorism “may be slow, painful and exhausting, but we have no alternative but to defeat it”.
After laying a wreath at the Monument to the Mozambican Heroes, where the remains of Mondlane, and of other nationalists who gave their lives during the liberation struggle, are buried, Nyusi lamented the recent surge in terrorist raids in Cabo Delgado.
To counter the activity of the terrorists, he said that immediate operational measures were taken to occupy and consolidate strategic positions in Mucojo, Pangane and Quiterajo, in the Cabo Delgado district of Macomia.
He added that the terrorists should not wait for an exchange of fire to repent of their activities, but should do so now.
Nyusi said the jihadists are attempting to recruit new members in the districts in the southern part of Cabo Delgado, and possibly across the provincial boundary in Memba, Erati and other parts of Nampula.
“The Defence and Security Forces”, he continued, “have as their latest goal to deny the terrorists penetration and mobility by sea, including their resupply from the adjacent islands”.
The Mozambican forces, he said, “have been in direct contact with the group fleeing along the Ancuabe-Metuge route”.
During the ceremony, Nyusi also awarded 1,152 veterans of the national liberation struggle with the Veteran’s Medal, in recognition of their active participation in the fight for the country’s independence, as members of Frelimo’s guerrilla forces, or working clandestinely against colonialism, or on the diplomatic front.
30 of the veterans (or their representatives, in the cases of those who have died) received their medals personally at the ceremony in Heroes’ Square. Nyusi delegated powers to the secretaries of state in the provinces to decorate the other veterans.
(AIM)
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