The uncontrollable Naparama

Good afternoon. Over the weekend, three election workers were beaten to death in the Chiúre district of Cabo Delgado province, after members of the Naparama, a local peasant militia, allegedly mistook them for insurgents, by their own claim. Photos of the dead bodies suggest that they were deliberately mutilated. When it comes to methods, there seems to be little difference between the insurgents and the Naparama.

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These senseless and brutal killings are a reminder that the government has irresponsibly unleashed a storm in the province by encouraging and defending the Naparama. Poorly educated and superstitious, the Naparama believe they can make themselves invulnerable to bullets, they operate independently, and they take orders from nobody. In short, they are uncontrollable. They have already caused mayhem by attacking health workers and government officials, and their homes, in the mistaken belief that the officials are spreading cholera. On those occasions, the government and local leaders of ruling party Frelimo not only failed to prosecute Naparama members, but defended them from criticism. Sadly, it looks likely in this case too that the guilty people will be protected from prosecution.