Mozambique rebels using women, children as human shields – Army

PEMBA, Mozambique 

Rebel groups in Cabo Delgado are using women and children as human shields in fighting with Mozambican forces, an army source said on Thursday.

“The first barrier we find are children and women,” General Cristovão Chume, commander of the army branch, told Radio Mozambique as he described the fighting that has been taking place in Palma district.

“We have been instructing our comrades who are fighting to preserve the lives of these children and women, going after those who have weapons – or who even if they don’t have any, present themselves as [members of] the terrorist group,” he said.

According to the official, quoted by the state broadcaster, the Mozambican security forces (FDS) have in recent days managed, without specifying when, to rescue over a hundred people who had been taken by rebels.

Clashes and military operations in Palma district have intensified again in the last week, according to reports from displaced people fleeing to Pemba, the provincial capital, and military sources, who announced on Wednesday they had shot dead 150 rebels.

The district used to host the natural gas exploration project led by Total, the largest private investment in Africa (around 20 billion euros), which has since been suspended due to insecurity in the region.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has led to over 2,800 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and 732,000 displaced people, according to the UN.