“There is mounting speculation among civilians in Cabo Delgado that either Tanzania is failing to act or the country’s authorities are supporting the ongoing insurgency in her neighbor, Mozambique,” Mr. Viljoen told ACI Africa in an interview May 12.
In the October 22 report, however, DHPI leadership makes reference to media reports that have hinted on the move by Tanzanian authorities to join the military offensive against insurgents in Cabo Delgado, saying, “On 20 October 2021 Africa Intelligence reported that Tanzania's top brass has in recent months been scrambling to establish new contacts with Western military and diplomatic representatives in Dar es Salaam.”
The DHPI officials note that unlike Tanzania’s former President John Magufuli who they say hardly addressed the security situation in the neighboring country, the current president is serious about the situation.
“President Samia Suluhu Hassan is taking very seriously the jihadist threat just across her Southern border in Mozambique’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado Province. She instructed Tanzania People's Defense Forces’ (TPDF) Chief of Staff Venance Mabeyo, with whom she enjoys excellent relations, to prepare his Army to deal with the threat if it spills over the border,” the officials id the SACBC entity say.
They add, “Samia Suluhu Hassan’s predecessor, the late John Magufuli, had long refused to take calls from his Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi, who was hoping for military cooperation on the Mozambican-Tanzanian border. But that era is over and Mabeyo deployed a contingent to Cabo Delgado in August as part of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM).”
(Story continues below)
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The SACBC peace entity has also reported the widespread sale of heroin in Cabo Delgado by insurgents whose intention, the leadership of the Catholic foundation says, is to supply narcotics in the region.
“In Cabo Delgado, SAMIM forces and local police have found a stash of 28 kilograms of heroin in a building that was used by insurgents, further adding to speculation that part of the insurgent’s objectives is to supply narcotics in the region,” DHPI officials say in the report shared with ACI Africa.
They add, “The drugs were part of a 250 cache that was destroyed over the weekend in Pemba.”