Maputo, 16 Aug (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has instructed the Secretary of State for Youth and Employment (SEJE) to pay tribute to 50 victims of Islamist terrorism in Xitaxi, Muidumbe district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
The Xitaxi Massacre, perhaps the worst single incident in the Cabo Delgado war, took place on 6 April 2020, when a group of young people refused to join the ranks of the terrorists, and were then slaughtered en masse.
According to Nyusi, who was speaking, on Thursday, in the district of Vanduzi, in the central province of Manica, during the opening ceremony of the Fifth National Youth Meeting, the tribute to be paid is the result of the courage that the young people showed in refusing to join the terrorists.
“The young people were forced to join the insurgents, but they refused, and so they were summarily executed. They were being forced to join the terrorists but they resisted”, he recalled.
The President pledged that the patriotism that these 50 young people showed to their country will never be forgotten.
“We won’t forget that, as well as the determination of the young people who mobilize themselves when it’s hard to work”, he said.
The terrorist attacks have so far claimed the lives of about 3,000 people. According to the Mozambican relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD), around 1.2 million people have been internally displaced in Cabo Delgado, most of whom have come from areas severely affected by terrorism. But of this figure, 600,000 people have now returned to their areas of origin.
(AIM)
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