Mozambique’s military denies accusations of human rights abuses

Mozambique’s military has denied accusations of human rights violations levelled against it by amnesty international over its fight against an Islamist insurgency in the gas-rich northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The campaign group had earlier this week accused Mozambican soldiers of murder, torture, ill-treatment of prisoners, possible extrajudicial executions and the transport and discarding of a large number of corpses into apparent mass graves.

It relied on what it termed as verified footage and photos from the region showing crimes against detainees.

But Mozambique’s defence ministry spokesman, Omar Saranga, said amnesty did not take into account the production of such materials by insurgents to discredit the military,