By our Correspondent, PALMA
Mozambique
Several houses near the
town of Palma, northern Mozambique, were burned down on Tuesday night in a new development, a
spokesman for the Mozambican Armed Forces (FADM) told our reporter this Thursday, but
FADM remains in control of the district headquarters.Brigadier Chongo Vidigal
“What
we had were some houses burnt down on Tuesday outside Palma by two alleged
insurgents,” said Brigadier Chongo Vidigal, FADM spokesman for the Northern Operational
Theatre (Teatro Operacional Norte).
The
official was speaking today from Afungi, about six kilometres south of
Palma, next to the facilities of the gas project in northern Mozambique and the
Quitunda resettlement village.
The
alleged attackers, the same ones responsible for the March 24 attack, returned
to Palma looking for “revenge”, he claimed. “We think it was out of revenge
against members of the population who the insurgents think collaborated with
the Defense and Security Forces (FDS),” he said.
Chongo
Vidigal said after two sources in the town reported the presence of
strangers who have been attacking people and destroying properties since
Tuesday night.
The
spokesman confirmed the burning of some houses but reiterated: “The real
information is that Palma is completely under the control of the FDS. The
village is fully protected”.
Vidigal acknowledged that the majority of the population were afraid to return to Palma, but that was because “the administrative structures” had not yet been reinstated.
“It is like in a house: If the head of the family does not return,
the other members of the household are afraid.” He explained.
Armed
groups have terrorized Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by
the jihadist group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has already caused
more than 2,500 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project,
and 714,000 people displaced, according to the Mozambican government.
The
most recent attack, on March 24, was carried out against the town of Palma,
causing dozens of deaths and injuries in numbers yet to be ascertained.
Mozambican authorities regained control of the town, but the attack led oil company Total to indefinitely abandon the main construction site of the gas project scheduled to start production in 2024 and on which many of Mozambique’s expectations for economic growth in the next decade are based. - Africa
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