Al-Shabaab
Somali opposition leaders ‘no longer recognise president’
Jack Hill/Reuters Somalia’s opposition leaders have announced that they no longer recognise President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, after his term expired without a political agreement on a path toward elections to replace him. The Horn of Africa nation was supposed to hold indirect elections before February 8 but the deadline was missed as the central government and federal states failed to break a deadlock over how to proceed with a vote. It now confronts a political crisis alongside a violent Islamist insurgency, a locust invasion and serious food shortages. A coalition of opposition candidates urged the president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, to “respect the constitution” and ensure a peaceful transfer of power in the fragile country. “Starting from 8th February 2021, the council...
Mozambique jihadists push masses to Pemba
The population has soared in Pemba, a northern Mozambique port known for its wide bay, but rather than tourists coming for a swim, the newcomers have fled Islamic extremists. In the past few months, boatloads of people with little but the clothes they wear have landed under the palm trees after their homes fell prey to Al-Shabaab gunmen swearing allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS). In October, the violent rebellion entered its fourth year and has reportedly killed more than 2,400 people and displaced half a million, according to the government. Their villages were torched, many men killed and many young women kidnapped. After seizing coastal zones that host natural gas installations, Islamist fighters have begun to push to the inland districts of Cabo Delgado province. The last offi...
At least 20 massacred during Mozambique initiation ceremony
Suspected militants beheaded over a dozen men and teenagers participating in a male initiation ceremony in northern Mozambique, local sources said on Wednesday, in the latest violent incident in the country’s insurgency-hit northeast. The dismembered bodies of at least five adults and 15 boys were found on Monday, scattered across a forest clearing in Muidumbe district. Islamist militants operating in the area had attacked several nearby villages over the weekend, looting and burning down homes before retreating into surrounding thicket. “Police learnt of the massacre committed by the insurgents through reports of people who found corpses in the woods,” said an officer in the neighbouring Mueda district who asked not to be named. “It was possible to count 20 bodies spread over an area of a...
