President Nyusi calls for implacable fight against terrorists
President Nyusi calls for implacable fight against terrorists
Maputo, 18 Jan (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on 15 January urged the Mozambican forces fighting against terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado to act in a hard-hitting manner, so as to discourage foreigners from coming to destabilize Mozambique.
The terrorists operating in Cabo Delgado are aligned with the self-styled “Islamic State” and are known to include in their ranks and in their leadership nationals of other African nations, including Tanzania, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Speaking in Maputo at the end of the Fifth Course on Anti-Terrorism Operations, President Nyusi said that in Cabo Delgado Mozambique faces “a war without frontiers, because it does not respect sovereignty or territorial integrity. It is a war without laws, without respect for human life. It uses all means to terrorise men and women, to kill and mutilate in a heinous way, and it is clearly linked to drug trafficking and to the pillaging of resources”.
“If terrorism is not fought against in a united way in Mozambique, or in the region, in the continent and globally, then let it be clear that nobody will be safe”, he warned. “But Mozambique is well aware, that the main soldiers in this battle, the soldiers in the front line, are the Mozambicans themselves”.
President Nyusi told the finalists on the anti-terrorism course that their task is to ensure that the Mozambican state will be implacable against all the enemies of the Mozambican people, whether they are other Mozambicans or foreigners.
“Don’t waste time seeking to identify the origin of each terrorist shot down or present in the theatre of operations. Any terrorist, regardless of where he comes from, is your target”, stressed the President.
The finalists, he continued, must show the strength of the state, the unity and tenacity of Mozambicans and “your determination and heroism which always characterized the country”.
President Nyusi also took the opportunity to call, once again, on Mariano Nhongo, leader of the dissident “Renamo Military Junta”, to surrender, hand over his weapons and ensure that his men take part of the demobilization, disarming and reintegration (DDR) of the Renamo militia.
“Mariano Nhongo should surrender and join the DDR process. He can do so through the contacts that are at his disposal”, President Nyusi said. The same was true of the followers of Andre Matsangaissa Junior (the nephew of the first Renamo commander, Andre Matade Matsangaissa, who joined the Military Junta in July 2019). “They should all “surrender before it’s too late”, warned the President.
(AIM)