President Filipe Nyusi has offered an amnesty to Mozambican youths who have been recruited into the ranks of armed groups carrying out attacks in the northern Cabo Delgado province, according to media reports monitored on Tuesday.
According to the O Pais daily, Nyusi told journalists upon his return on Monday night from an official visit to neighbouring Tanzania that he is willing to pardon repentant terrorists.
“Find a way to talk to the Defence and Security Forces so that you can get back to all of us. We will do everything to help the Mozambican people understand that you have been manipulated and used. You are not murderers by nature, you are being manoeuvred into the war,” Nyusi said, referring to the young recruits.
The terror group, which claims to have links to the Islamic State, has intensified attacks in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province over the past year and has recruited hundreds of young Mozambicans.
Nyusi spoke ahead of an emergency summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) security organ that is scheduled for 17 and 18 January in Maputo.
SADC plans to develop a regional response to Mozambique’s security situation, which has deteriorated since the armed attacks first started in 2017
JN/APA