Residents experience moments of panic following terrorists’ approach

Maputo, 18 Nov (AIM) – The residents of Mesa and Metoro Administrative Posts, in Ancuabe district, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, on Sunday experienced moments of panic following reports denouncing the approach of a group of islamist terrorists in the region.

According to Monday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Carta de Moçambique”, the terrorist group possibly comes from the neighboring district of Meluco, where it also attacked some communities.

As a result of the terrorists’ approach, some households abandoned their homes to take refuge in hiding places and, in other cases, to move from their home villages to others.

“Unrest was recorded in the villages of Nacuale, Moconi, Mesa-sede, Mahera, Maguiguane, Nanjua, Marrocane, among others. We have no peace here in Ancuabe. Since morning we’ve been hearing that the terrorists were seen at one point or another. They also say that some terrorists have been captured by the local forces (Naparamas)”, a source said.

Another source said that all the villages became agitated and “here in Nanjua, they were saying that the Naparamas had captured people who were members of the terrorist groups. So we didn’t understand anything. That’s why some people abandoned their villages, moving from one place to another.” (The Naparamas are a peasant militia, initially set up in the late 1980s to defend their communities against Renamo, and recently revived to fight the jihadists).

An amateur video, filmed on Sunday and shared on social media, shows a group of men dressed in military uniforms from the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM), surrounded by Naparamas, being taken to the Nanjua Police Station, in the Mesa Administrative Post.

Residents differ on the identity of the men, with some suspecting that they were terrorists and others believing that they were soldiers on patrol in the area.
(AIM)
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