A surge of violent unrest has rocked northern Mozambique, with enraged citizens blaming local authorities for the cholera outbreak and setting fire to multiple homes. Amid the chaos, at least three community leaders lost their lives during the riots incited by false information, as reported by local authorities.
Officials have attributed the turmoil to the Naparama, a militia group engaged in combat against jihadists in the Cabo Delgado province. The assailants, alleging that authorities are propagating cholera through medications, not only torched over a dozen houses but also destroyed a cholera treatment facility, according to official accounts.
The Naparama, which surfaced at the end of 2022 in Balama and Montepuez districts, draw their name from a historical group that supported FRELIMO during the Mozambican civil war in the 1980s.
It’s worth noting that the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), an anti-colonial liberation movement that seized power in 1975, waged a struggle against RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance) until the peace accords of 1992. The original Naparama group was established by a traditional healer named Manuel António in Zambezia province, who claimed to possess a medicine capable of transforming bullets into water. With this belief, he rallied a small army of followers to confront the RENAMO rebels.
The Naparama abstained from using firearms and instead wielded spears, machetes, bows, and arrows in combat. Their preferred tactic involved launching mass charges at the enemy, chanting loudly to terrify the youthful and inexperienced RENAMO fighters into retreat. Carrying on traditions from their forerunners, the current Naparama retain customs such as “vaccination” through incisions on the chest and the application of a “magic potion” into the wounds.
