Mozambique: Panic continues in Cabo Delgado

SMALL groups of Islamist militants in north-east Cabo Delgado are successfully creating fear and panic, and government has failed to convince local people that everything is under control, reports Savana (July 20).

The brutality of the attacks, with local people killed by machetes and hundreds of houses burned and people losing all their belongings, has shocked local people who are fleeing their villages and are afraid to go to their fields to collect food.

The military patrols the paved roads and large towns, but the attacks are on villages of several hundred families deep in dense forests. Most people have fled and villages are abandoned.

Armando Nhantumbo of Savana says local people question the utility of the military.

"Young soldiers in the area are accused of acting in a disorderly manner, extorting money from communities and consuming excessive alcohol, often resulting in violence against local people."

In his Savana article (July 20) he spoke to a young man who was shot and wounded and his friend killed by soldiers who attacked the village of Naunde claiming it was occupied by Islamists.

No attacks have been reported in the past week, but Rhula (July 6-13) reports 12 attacks June 3-25 and a further four incidents July 6-10. The last incidents included an attack July 6 on a car in Quiterajo, Macomia, transporting six workers to a nearby rice plantation in Messalo.

(Ntatenda July 7) On July 7 an armed group attacked the remote village of Macanga, Pundanhar, Palma, killing four and burning five houses. On 10 July a group of about 20 armed men attacked the remote village of Quisingule, Palma, 12 km from the Tanzania border.

Two people were killed, two officials were injured and weapons stolen, and houses were burned. — allAfrica.com