Rhythmic welcome for the Portuguese president when he got off the plane at Maputo airport. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is traveling to Mozambique for a few days. An official visit during which he will meet his counterpart Filipe Nyusi.
On the agenda, there are mainly the problems caused by Cyclone Gombe which hit Mozambique a few days ago and left 53 dead. Portugal's support for the fight against jihadism in northern Mozambique, in the province of Cabo Delgado, which has been plagued by violence since 2017, will also be mentioned. After the last attack in March 2021 in the city of Palma, the Portugal had sent military reinforcements to the country.
Another hot topic that should be raised during this visit is the disagreement between Lisbon and Maputo over the crisis in Ukraine. Portugal voted against Moscow's intervention, but Mozambique abstained and guaranteed that it would not intervene in this conflict.
Overall, the two countries, which cooperate in many areas, maintain good diplomatic relations. This is the Portuguese head of state's third visit to Mozambique since taking office in March 2016.
DRC: ADF pushed west by military operations
Rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), responsible for the massacres of thousands of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, are migrating west, away from their strongholds on the border with Uganda where carry out joint military operations, analyze experts.
In the territories of Beni (North Kivu) and Irumu (Ituri), according to local sources, at least 79 civilians were killed from Friday to Monday in attacks launched by suspected ADF assailants in six villages located west of national road 4, which connects the city of Beni (North Kivu) to that of Kisangani (Tshopo) via Mambasa (Ituri).
Considered the deadliest of the hundred or so armed groups present in the eastern DRC for more than 25 years, the ADF have been attacking civilians and Congolese army positions since 2014 in the territory of Beni, where they have taken root, on the border with Uganda . The territory of Irumu in southern Ituri has been affected by their violence since 2019.
Jihadist attacks
In an attempt to put an end to violence by armed groups, Kinshasa placed the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri under a state of siege last May, giving full power to the military. At the end of November, joint operations by the Congolese and Ugandan armies were launched against the ADF rebels, accused of jihadist attacks on Ugandan soil. The Islamic State (IS) group considers them its branch in Central Africa .
Deputy Jean-Baptiste Muhindo Kasekwa , elected from Goma (North Kivu), affirms that from March 9 to 14, at least 96 civilians were killed in the territories of Irumu and Beni, 383 since the launch of the Congolese-Ugandan operations and 2,068 since the imposition of the state of siege .
He addressed an oral question to the Minister of Defense to explain "the real causes of the stalemate in the security situation in these two provinces, with an outbreak of killings" despite the state of siege, he said. he indicated to AFP on Wednesday, the day after the opening of the parliamentary session.
MP Muhindo Kasekwa says he fears that the joint operations will only serve to "steer the ADF away from the Ugandan border to push them further into the DRC" , as was the case "in 2009 with the operation Umoja wetu , which allowed the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda to move away from the Rwandan border" .
For three months, "there has been a movement of ADF rebels from the east to the west. They are crossing national road 4 to go deeper to the west" , analysis for AFP Reagan Miviri, of the Kivu Security Barometer (KST), a group of researchers working in conflict zones in eastern DRC.
"The ADF threat has moved away from Uganda", also underlines the lawyer Omar Kavota, coordinator of Cepadho, a Congolese organization which documents the abuses committed by the ADF since 2014. He also believes that the ADF chooses the moment of their attacks to make them talk.
"By increasing the attacks in recent days, as the opening of the parliamentary session approaches, they were sure, on the one hand, to attract the attention of parliament, on the other hand to see voices raised to criticize the state of siege" , believes Me Kavota.
"We do not know if this movement is final or if they (ADF) will come back. But everything suggests that if the Ugandan offensives increase, the ADF will go further towards the regions of Mambasa and Epulu" , where the Okapi Wildlife Reserve is located, judge Reagan Miviri.
In Ituri and North Kivu, the military authorities constantly call on the populations to "collaborate" , "to trust" the Congolese and Ugandan soldiers in their fight against the ADF. But "if we continue at this rate, the number of dead will be higher" than that recorded "before these joint operations and the population will end up losing confidence" in the authorities, he warns.
Niger: at least 21 killed in an attack near the Burkinabe border
A detachment of elements of the anti-jihadist special forces "Almahaou" (Tourbillon) patrols on November 6, 2021 in the Tillaberi region
At least 21 people, including two police officers, were killed on Wednesday in an attack by suspected jihadists on a bus and a truck in the Tillabéri region in southwestern Niger, near Burkina Faso.
"A terrorist attack, carried out on Wednesday afternoon by heavily armed individuals on motorcycles and in vehicles, left 19 dead among the passengers of a bus, including two police officers and two others killed in the attack on a truck" , said a security source. The bus, belonging to a Nigerian company, and the truck were set on fire, added this source on condition of anonymity.
The two occupants of the truck transporting fruit and vegetables burned to death while the attack on the bus also left five seriously injured, including a policeman, who were evacuated to the capital Niamey for treatment, the source said. Seven surviving passengers from the bus, including four women and three men, were found.
This double attack occurred in the department of Téra, near the Petelkole border checkpoint located 10 km from the border with Burkina Faso , a neighboring country also targeted by the jihadists, according to a local elected official.
The Niger Modern Transport Company (STM) confirmed in a press release that one of its buses "returning from Ouagadougou" was the subject of a deadly attack. "Following this unfortunate event, we inform our customers that departures to Burkina Faso are suspended until further notice" , adds the company, one of the largest in the country which serves several West African capitals.
In October 2021, three Nigerien police officers were killed and several others injured in a violent attack by suspected jihadists on the Petelkole post.
The immense and unstable region of Tillabéri , with an area of 100,000 km2, is located in the so-called "three borders" area between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali and has been the scene since 2017 of bloody actions of jihadist movements linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group.
The authorities have launched vast operations for the free distribution and promotional sale of cereals to farmers affected by a serious food crisis caused by the attacks and the drought. At the end of February, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum announced that he had begun "discussions" with jihadists in the context of "the search for peace" .
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