Cabo Delgado islamist terrorists leader named

MAPUTO, Mozambique

The leader of the islamist terrorists in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado is a Mozambican national named Abu Sorraca, also known as Bin Omar, according to President Filipe Nyusi.

Speaking in Maputo on Thursday, at a New Year reception offered to the diplomatic corps accredited in Maputo, Nyusi for the first time put a name to the jihadist leadership. Abu Sorraca, he said, “is assisted by foreign citizens and we have the names of Tanzanians who are with him”.

"The terrorists no longer have bases”, Nyusi added. “They are operating in small groups”, which had received “the due response” from the Mozambican defence and security forces and their allies.

"Unquestionably, our strategy is bringing encouraging results in restoring peace and security”, he told the diplomats. “It is encouraging the return of the displaced people and the reconstruction of the social fabric”.

Nyusi also pledged that his government will do all its power to ensure the resumption of natural gas operations in the Rovuma Basin, off the Cabo Delgado coast. The major liquefied natural gas (LNG) project is that of a consortium led by the French oil and gas company, TotalEnergies, which intends to build two gas liquefaction plants on the Afungi peninsula, in Palma district.

But work at Afungi stopped in the wake of a major terrorist attack against Palma town in March 2021. TotalEnergies withdrew its staff, and has made their return dependent on improvements in the security situation.

"The government will continue interacting with the companies operating in the gas sector in the Rovuma Basin, in order to resume the projects that have begun, so that the existing resources are transformed into wealth and not international reserves, and may thus serve the Mozambicans of today and of tomorrow”, said Nyusi. “That is why we are working to set up a sovereign wealth fund”.

Nyusi also claimed new developments in the demobilization of the militia of the main opposition party, Renamo. 

Attempts in December to close the final Renamo military base, in the central province of Sofala, broke down in disagreement over the payment of pensions to former Renamo fighters. The “demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration” (DDR) of Renamo gunmen thus remains incomplete.

"While we are seeking to establish a consensus about the closure of the last Renamo base, we have set up a group dedicated to the question of pensions for the beneficiaries of the DDR, which is an essential component for the sustainability of the process”, said Nyusi. “We are continuing to interact with our partners, including international financial institutions, on the complex question of pensions”.

He hoped that the model of the DDR in Mozambique will serve as a reference point for the sustainable solution of conflicts elsewhere.