The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, expressed this Tuesday “his solidarity with the brother Mozambican people”, after an armed attack on a Catholic mission in northern Mozambique.
“The President of the Republic expresses his solidarity with the brother Mozambican people, at a time when another terrorist attack caused innocent victims in the north of the country, hoping that peace can quickly return to that important region,” reads the site. Presidency website
A source from the congregation of the Comboni Sisters in Italy announced that an Italian nun was killed during an attack on the Catholic mission in Chipende, in the extreme north of the area that is part of the diocese of Nacala.
It is an area near the Lúrio River, a natural border between the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.
Portugal leads the European Union training mission in Mozambique, which from the end of 2021 prepares rapid reaction units of the Mozambican Defense Armed Forces to fight in Cabo Delgado.
The mission has 119 members from 12 countries, with Portugal being the country with the largest contingent, which is currently made up of 68 soldiers from the three branches of the armed forces and the GNR.
The attack on Chipende occurred two days before Josep Borrell, head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, arrived in Maputo on Thursday for a two-day visit.
Borrell will meet with the Mozambican president, Filipe Nyusi, and will deliver (non-war) material to him to support the fighting in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed violence, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.
The insurgency provoked a military response a year ago by Rwandan forces and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts close to gas projects, but provoking a new wave of attacks in other, closer areas. to Pemba, the provincial capital, and in the province of Nampula.
There are some 800,000 internally displaced persons due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and some 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
Source: TSF
