“Not safe yet”: Catholic Peace Entity Warns as Returning Mozambican IDPs Flee

They launched attacks on Litapata on April 13, Mandava the next day on April 14, and Miangalewa the day after, on April 15. 

In Lipata, a group of about five insurgents was spotted, prompting the intervention of authorities who managed to kill one member of the insurgent group while the rest managed to escape.

The next day, another group appeared in Mandava village, about 15 kilometers West of Litapata. 

“A young man who was picking oranges, after seeing the group of five armed terrorists, immediately fled. When the group realized the escape, they began shooting,” DHPI says in the April 18 report.

On the night of April 15, insurgents attacked Miangalewa village, the Catholic peace foundation, which continues to research the evolution of insurgency in Cabo Delgado says, adding that one member of the local force was killed in the night attack and two were wounded. 

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“The incursions are causing the five hundred or so civilians who recently returned to Miangalewa to flee to Macedonia, which, despite the difficult conditions, has been hosting them since 2020. As recently as Sunday (April 16), many civilians were looking for cars that could transport them from Miangalewa back to Macedonia. 

DHPI reports that hundreds of civilians had in the past few weeks started returning to Miangalewa, an area that was once the epicenter of the insurgency in Muidumbe district, because of recurrent calls from the local authorities for the return to places of origin, the difficult conditions in the reception centers, as well as the promises of settlement in the region. 

In a past interview with ACI Africa, Mr. Viljoen had warned that the military intervention in Muidumbe was not helping locals.

The DHPI official spoke to ACI Africa after the Mozambican government launched Operation Vulcan IV in Cabo Delgado province, hoping to wipe out insurgents in the embattled region.

In the January 11 interview, Mr. Viljoen said that past military offensives in Cabo Delgado had seen innocent civilians suffer at the hands of the military.

“The fear that civilians will be killed in the operation stems from the fact that the Mozambican army in the past has been found guilty of gross atrocities. This was highlighted two years ago in a report by Amnesty International,” Mr. Viljoen said.

He added, “If the military just arrives in a place and starts looking for the so-called terrorists, the danger there is always that they will round up every young man they can find and detain them.”

The DHPI Director said that the lack of trust by locals also spelled doom for the military intervention, adding, “There is a general lack of trust by the locals in the Mozambican army.”

He said that many deaths had already resulted from Operation Vulcan IV.

“Photos have emerged on social media showing many deaths of presumed insurgents. There are fears that civilians could also be killed in the operation,” Mr. Viljoen said.

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With the support of Rwandan forces and the Military Mission of the Southern African Development Community in Mozambique (SAMIM), the Mozambique Armed Defence Forces (FADM) launched Operation Vulcan IV on the banks of the Messalo River, specifically in the vicinity of the districts of Macomia and Muidumbe, in the province of Cabo Delgado.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.