President Filipe Nyusi has urged the ISIS-linked terrorists operating in parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado to turn themselves over to the authorities. Speaking to reporters in Maputo, immediately after laying a wreath at the Monument to the Mozambican Heroes, to mark the 29th anniversary of the 1992 peace agreement between the government and the Renamo rebels, President Nyusi stressed that the terrorists “have nowhere to go”.
He disclosed that terrorists are being relentlessly pursued by the Mozambican defence and security force and their allies from Rwanda and the Standby Force of SADC (Southern African Development Community), and have been driven out of their main bases.
The President also added that he is sure that leaders of the ISIS-backed groups are on the run and may even have left the country”.
President Nyusi stressed that it was not the government’s intention to take reprisals. Whether they had voluntarily joined the ranks of the terrorists or had been pressganged, they were now disoriented, just running from one place to the next.
He urged them not to wait alone to be pursued until they are killed, but they should surrender, in an orderly fashion said the President.
President Nyusi also urged Mariano Nhongo, the leader of the self-styled Renamo Military Junta, to surrender and join the current demobilization of the Renamo militia.
The Junta broke away from Renamo in mid-2019, and Nhongo has repeatedly denounced Renamo leader Ossufo Momade as “a traitor”. His forces staged repeated ambushes on the main roads of the central provinces of Manica and Sofala throughout 2020, but since January only one attack has been attributed to the Junta.
Many Junta members, including some of Nhongo’s close aides, have surrendered. President Nyusi revealed that in late September, the defence forces came close to capturing Nhongo, near the town of Inhaminga, in Sofala. In making his escape, Nhongo had left his jacket behind, said the President. “It can’t go on like this”, he said. “He must surrender. He should not wait for something strange to happen with him”.
President Nyusi promised that, if he surrenders, Nhongo will not be harmed. He will be demobilized and then “he will organize his life and choose where he wants to stay”
