Comandante geral da PRM, Bernardino Rafael
Maputo, 1 Aug (AIM) – The General Commander of the Mozambican police force (PRM), Bernardino Rafael, on Wednesday apologized to the public for the misbehavior of the Mozambican defence and security forces (FDS), in Macomia district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where they have been fighting against islamist terrorists.
The apology comes two weeks after an incident, which led the population to rebel against the FDS as a result of an alleged use of excessive force against civilians in the district, instead of protecting them from terrorists.
“We want to say loud and clear that, as leaders of the FDS, we apologize for all the mistakes our agents and collaborators have made. We apologize because there is no command saying that someone of our forces should mistreat or harm the population”, he said.
According to Bernardino, terrorism can be defeated if the population and the FDS collaborate, therefore discipline and mutual respect are always necessary.
“Collaboration is about finding out who our enemy is, who is the person responsible for our discomfort. Unity between the FDS and the population is a must”, he said.
He also encouraged the population to denounce any misbehavior coming from the FDS officials, because “mistreatment is not correct on the part of the members of the corporation who are here.”
“You also must denounce those who want to infiltrate our community to create terror actions”, he said.
(AIM)
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