MAPUTO,Mozambique
The violence in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado should be regarded as a problem, not only of that province, but of the entire country, the Catholic Archbishop of the provincial capital, Pemba, Juliasse Sandramo, has warned.
Cited by the independent
television station STV, the archbishop said the terrorists active in Cabo
Delgado could spread across the whole country.
“Mozambican society should
mobilise to face terrorism”, he urged. “It would be a serious mistake to think
that the struggle against terrorism should take place only in Cabo Delgado. It
should take place across the country, because there are links. We are dealing
with a certain type of extremism. It may have a religious stamp, but it is
extremism, it is radicalism, and its ideas can be spread throughout the
country”.
The military presence of
Mozambique and its allies is important, said the Archbishop, but there should
also be “a struggle to raise awareness so that every Mozambican takes a clear
position and fights against all those who spread hatred, all those who spread
ideas that make it difficult for Mozambicans to live together
Sandramo noted that, because
of the recent upsurge in terrorist attacks, thousands of people have fled from
their villages. The Catholic Church, he said, is working in Chiure town to
assist the displaced people, but they lack almost everything
“Those who managed to leave
their villages when they realized that the insurgents were approached were able
to take some food with them”, he said. “But those who were taken by surprise
left with nothing”.
Not only did they have no
food, but they have no shelter, and it is now raining in Cabo Delgado. These
destitute people require support from all Mozambicans, the Archbishop urged.
The terrorist raids have
disrupted road transport in Cabo Delgado. Transport operators, cited by the
independent daily “O Pais”, say they are afraid to travel on the province’s
roads – and, in any case, few passengers are willing to risk the journey.
Operators told reporters that
the jihadist raids are destroying their business.
One bus driver, Azarias Sambo,
who has been in the business for the past decade, said “we haven’t been able to
carry many passengers since last year, and in recent days it’s got much worse.
Some days we only carry 15 passengers in a bus”.
Raul Langa, Deputy Chairperson
of the Cabo Delgado Transporters’ Association, complained of the shortage of
passengers.
“The attacks in the north mean
that people are so scared that they don’t want to travel”, said Langa. He
feared that the future for transport operators in Cabo Delgado was “ever more
uncertain”.
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