Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Monday implored Islamist militants operating in the country’s far north to surrender, saying they had nowhere to run.
Nyusi made the remarks while commemorating Peace and National Reconciliation Day, which coincidentally came a day after allied Rwandan, Mozambican and southern African forces said they had killed a senior Islamist militant leader along with 18 other fighters in an offensive on 25 September.
Awadhi Ndanjile, a religious leader instrumental in recruiting and indoctrinating members of the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a (ASWJ), was killed on a militants base in the Nangade district of Cabo Delgado, the statement from SADC’s mission in Mozambique said, using one of the names given to the country’s militants. Said Nyusi:
We wanted to invite them not to wait for death … this is not the intention of the defence and security forces.
Surrender yourself … because you have nowhere to go … You are running from one forest to another being endlessly chased.
A number of areas previously held by militants have been cleared, including the town of Mocimboa da Praia, more than a year after insurgents first seized it. Insurgent bases have also been destroyed, according to security forces.