Cabo Delgado residents finds bodies in clash zones

MAPUTO, Mozambique

Residents of a village in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, announced this Monday the discovery of two bodies believed to have been victims of recent clashes with rebels in the region.

"They are unidentified people, and they were buried,” reported a 44-year-old man who wished to remain anonymous. He was among a group of residents of the lower part of the district of Muidumbe who made the discovery as they were travelling to the village of Mandela.

"It is a village that still needs the presence of security forces, because there are signs of violence. We saw some burned houses,” another local source said.

Part of the population fled and is temporarily living in other areas, such as Nanhala, Chapa and Chudi in the neighbouring Mueda district, which has been hosting displaced people since the beginning of the conflict because it is seen as safe.

However, the “lack of job opportunities and scarcity of food support” is causing “many people [to] want to return”, he added, even in the knowledge that isolated attacks still occur in remote areas.

To the south, in Macomia, another district experiencing the armed insurgency, the population announced this Monday the discovery of more improvised graves in the bush, this time containing the bodies of three people who had been missing since the beginning of May, including a 7-year-old child.

The victims were part of a group from the community of Chitoio, in the administrative post of Chai, who had gone foraging in the bush, a local source said.

The seven residents were surprised by an armed group, and only four succeeded in returning to the village.

“We want to survive, but I don’t even know how we can remain here,” the source complained.

After that incident, the Local Force militia reinforced their presence, recommending a 5:00 p.m. curfew, because “from then on, the village is under the control of the local force”, it was explained.

"The local force [militia] has always worked, and if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be here. But there are circulation restrictions, especially at night,” said the same source.

Chitoio is close to the Messalo river, bordering the district of Muidumbe.

Mozambican Defence and Security Forces are carrying out an operation called Vulcão IV in the area, with the aim of dismantling rebel hideouts in Muidumbe and Macomia.

Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency for five years, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July, 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near the province’s natural gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in the neighbouring province of Nampula.

The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations, and cost around 4,000 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.