Armed group abducts three women in northern Mozambique

An unknown armed group abducted three women between Saturday and Sunday in the Meluco area of ​​Cabo Delgado, local sources in the area in northern Mozambique told Lusa.

The southern region of the province has become the latest hotbed of an armed insurgency that has been operating in the region for almost five years.

Over the weekend, an armed group attacked the communities of Chikomo and Iba, where they burned houses, kidnapping two women in the first village and another in the second, said one source from Macomia, the village he fled to for safety.

According to the same source, after the attacks in March and April, the population of the two communities was already returning in the hope of restoring security.

“We were returning because everything seemed to be fine, but we were taken by surprise: me and my family will not be returning now,” he said, adding that he still had suitcases to continue his journey to Pemba.

Another source said that although there were no reports of deaths, people were fleeing.

“Both I and other people are looking for safe places. Here, in the hinterland, the situation is weaker,” he said, speaking from the Meluco district headquarters, 54 kilometers from Estrada Nacional 1.

The Meluco area was already the site of another kidnapping at the end of May, when a medical worker was kidnapped by an armed group.

The province of Cabo Delgado, rich in natural gas, has been terrorized by armed rebels since 2017, with some of the attacks blamed on the Islamic State extremist group.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 784,000 people are internally displaced due to the conflict, and about 4,000 people have lost their lives, according to the ACLED conflict register project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government forces backed by Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has restored areas of insurgent presence, but their flight has led to more attacks in other areas being used as a passageway or temporary shelter.