President Cyril Ramaphosa has been meeting with the security cluster amid reports that South Africans are among those killed in fighting around the gas hub town of Palma in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
Suspected Isis militants attacked fleeing civilians and took over Palma.
The R1 trillion liquid gas project in the town is run by international oil companies including the French firm Total.
A South African woman who works in Palma says her son is missing.
“He’s missing. Choppers could not go and rescue him because they were shooting at the choppers from the ground. They tried today again, they landed in the site where they thought he would be. He’s no longer there. He’s still missing. He’s got no war experience, no fighting experience. So, the worst fear is you don’t know where they are, you don’t know is he safe. Is he alive? Has he been taken hostage?”
Many South Africans as well as people from other countries are employed at the massive gas facility. The woman, who wants to remain anonymous, says she has received information that there was an attempt to escape the attacking insurgents.
“This afternoon we got word that the rescue operation. The evacuation had to be stopped because they were shooting at the helicopters again. There was no help from the government. They were surrounded and they decided to make a run for it because they could not be evacuated. The chopper could not come anywhere close to them. So, they decided to make a run for it, they got into vehicles. It’s said to be there where 17 vehicles and only seven went through the ambush.”
A number of South Africans appear to have escaped an ambush, apparently by Isis-linked fighters in Palma.
Reuters quotes security and diplomatic sources as saying at least one person was killed during the escape and a number were wounded.
Mozambique’s government had said that security forces were working to restore order in Palma, which is adjacent to gas projects worth close to R1 trillion after it came under a three-pronged attack on Wednesday.
Many South Africans as well as people from other countries are employed at the massive gas facility.
Institute of Security Studies concerned over growing insurgency in Mozambique:
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