Special forces police in Mocímboa da Praia are raiding neighbourhoods, arresting locals and causing panic in an attempt to find insurgents who they believe are being hidden by locals in their homes.
The most recent incident happened last night, 25 June, in the Kuliwayamba area of the Nanduadua neighborhood, on the outskirts of the Mocímboa da Praia town, where locals heard shooting start around 8pm. They spent the night uncertain what was happening, but by dawn on Friday, it had become clear that members of the police’s Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) and Special Operations Group (GOE) had been going door to door in search of insurgents, that they suspect the population are hiding in their homes.
In houses where they found no man present, they aggressively questioned and sometimes physically abused the women there, according to one source who lives in Nanduadua.
A source in Milamba, a neighbourhood adjacent to Nanduadua, said that the operation in Nanduadua was essentially the same as the door to door campaign conducted by the defense and security forces in Milamba on Sunday and Monday.
In that operation, around 100 members of the police units arrived in Milamba on Sunday, 21 June — in particular in the residential zones of Nacala and Nabubussi — going from house to house, confiscating telephones and money, and in some cases destroying houses and arbitrarily detaining people, according to the source in Milamba. Another resident also confirmed this to Zitamar.
Twelve people who were captured in that operation have now been returned to their families, many with injuries. An unknown number are still in the hands of the authorities, the sources said.
This article was produced by Zitamar and Mediafax under the Cabo Ligado project, in collaboration with ACLED and with support from Crisis Group. The contents of the article are the sole responsibility of Zitamar News.
