Maputo (AIM) – Gunmen of the Mozambican rebel movement Renamo on Monday intercepted and held up nine vehicles in the Chupanga area, on the road between the towns of Caia and Marromeu, in the central province of Sofala, according to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the daily paper “Noticias”, citing Daniel Macuacua, spokesperson of the Sofala provincial police command.
Source: Renamo strikes on Caia-Marromeu road – The Zimbabwean 22.09.2016
Macuacua said that nobody was killed or injured in the Renamo ambushes. Instead, the Renamo gunmen behaved as highwaymen stealing money, mobile phone and sacks of sugar from the vehicles they held up. He said that, as soon as the defence and security forces became aware of the ambushes, they sent a unit to Chupanga to pursue the Renamo fighters.
This was the first time Renamo had appeared on the Caia-Marromeu road, which runs parallel to the Zambezi river. Up until now, there had been no armed escort for vehicles using the road.
But that is now changing. Macuacua said that henceforth vehicles using the road will be accompanied by units of the defence and security forces.
There are already three roads in central Mozambique, where travelers move in convoys under the protection of the military and the police. These are two stretches of the main north-south highway in Sofala, between the Save river and Muchungue, and between Nhamapadza and Caia, and the road in neighbouring Manica province between Vanduzi and the Luenha river.
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