Prominent trader murdered

Unidentified assassins murdered a prominent trader, Issa Ayubo (also known as Goromico) on Thursday night at his home in Nangade, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”. He was shot three times, and the official version is that this was a robbery. “He was found in the living room of his house at about 20.00 on Thursday”, said one local source. “He was hit with three bullets, in the chest, and the abdomen”.

On the day of the murder, he had sold a significant amount of cashew nuts, which means he was probably still in possession of the money from this sale. There are reports that he may have resisted handing over the money when his assailants demanded it. Earlier this year, the defence and security forces detained Goromico on suspicion that he was financing the islamist terrorists operating in Cabo Delgado. He was questioned for almost a month and was then released without charge. In addition to cashew nuts, Goromico made his living by selling spare parts for bicycles, motorcycles and electrical equipment. Meanwhile, the country’s Roman Catholic bishops, in the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM), have described the situation in the Cabo Delgado district of Muidumbe as “critical” and “highly unstable”.

At a Maputo press conference on Friday, the CEM spokesperson, the bishop of Chimoio, Joao Carlos, said “the perception we have is that it’s a very desolate situation which needs a rather forceful intervention to clarify what’s going on. But first we must find a way of accommodating all the people who are fleeing from the district”. The attacks in the northern districts of Cabo Delgado, said the bishop, constitute “a real humanitarian drama”, characterised by death, the burning of villages and the destruction of economic and social infrastructures. Vast numbers of displaced people are fleeing, he said, describing the situation as “a flagrant assault against human rights”. Reports from Muidumbe over the past week suggest that the terrorists struck at 11 Muidumbe villages between 31 October and 11 November. 20 young men were reported murdered when the jihadists attacked an initiation rite in 24th March village. A second initiation rite was attacked in a nearby village (which was not named), causing the deaths of 31 people. The raiders also destroyed two community radio stations, as well as schools, health centres and homes. The internet portal “Pinnacle News” reported that a football field in Muatide village had been turned into an execution ground, where the jihadists beheaded their captives and dismembered their bodies.