An armed group has set fire to several houses in the town of Mapate, in the low-lying area of Muidumbe district, Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, local community sources confirmed to Lusa on Tuesday.
“They came in around 11 a.m., some of us were in the production fields, because it was raining here. Then we saw some people, including children, running away and they told us that the village was on fire,” said a source from the locality and reported that the attack occurred on November 16.
The attack forced the population to evacuate to the village of Mandava, in the upper part of Muidumbe.
“They burned down a lot of houses. It’s sad, we were rebuilding our lives,” he still regretted it.
Meanwhile, a group of soldiers and members of the Local Forces were deployed to investigate the situation on site. They had confirmed the destruction, but without any human casualties.
“We found burnt houses, but no one was killed. The population is currently returning and is under control,” a Local Force source said.
The people of Mapate, Mandela and Malangonha, villages 40 kilometers away from the Muidumbe district headquarters, are concerned about the current situation, especially as this is not the first time that armed groups have attacked the area, and are asking the authorities to permanent security team.
“We are tired of running away, we ask for a position of the Defense and Security Forces or reinforcement of the Local Armed Forces,” shouted a 76-year-old man, in contact with Lusa from Mandava.
Last week, armed groups entered the communities of Chitoio, Novo Cabo Delgado and Litandacua without causing any deaths, but the population left the villages and took refuge in the Macomia district headquarters.
Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for six years, with some attacks claimed by the fundamentalist group Islamic State.
The uprising has sparked a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighboring province. Nampula.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the conflict has already displaced a million people, and around 4,000 people have been killed, according to the ACLED conflict recording project.
Source: DN
