The President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, said that the Mozambique Defense and Security Forces expelled the terrorists from all the districts they occupied in the province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.
“Our Defense and Security forces, also assisted by the local force, continue to pursue the terrorists relentlessly, having evicted them from all the districts they occupied until 2021,” Filipe Nyusi said Thursday night in Maputo at a reception for his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto, who is on a state visit to the country.
The province of Cabo Delgado has faced an armed insurgency for almost six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The armed insurgency has provoked a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts close to gas projects, but new attacks have erupted in the south of the region and in the neighboring province of Nampula.
“Efforts to combat the terrorists who attack some districts of the Cabo Delgado province continue, combining multilateral and bilateral cooperation, from SADC, through SAMIM [Missão Militar da África Austral]and Rwanda, respectively”, detailed the Mozambican president, when describing the situation to William Ruto.
The Governments of Mozambique and Kenya signed this Thursday, in Maputo, within the framework of this state visit, four memorandums of understanding and four agreements, one of them in the field of defense.
“Because the challenges of combating terrorism are common and require concerted efforts, even before a formal agreement in the field of defense and security, we have already been working with your country, saluting the experience of Kenya, which has successfully dealt with this scourge over the years. “, highlighted Filipe Nyusi, in the same speech, addressing his Kenyan counterpart.
The conflict in northern Mozambique has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and around four thousand dead, according to ACLED’s conflict registry project.
The two countries have suffered attacks associated with extremist groups Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State.
Source: TSF
