The ambush occurred at the same place as several of last week’s attacks, in the area of Zove, just a few kilometres south of the small town of Muxungue, in the central province of Sofala.
According to eye-witnesses cited by “Mediafax”, the Renamo gunmen machine-gunned the armoured car at the front of the convoy, which had left Muxungue at 09.00. There was a short exchange of fire, and the gunmen disappeared back into the dense bush at the side of the road. Two civilians were injured when they attempted to flee from the convoy to escape the shooting.
The armoured car could not move under its own steam, and so was towed by another military vehicles for the rest of the 100 vehicles to the Save river. The convoy reached the Save without further incident.
Before the convoy set out from Muxungue, dozens of truck drivers refused to allow soldiers to ride in their vehicles, arguing that this merely made them targets for Renamo. Since the truck drivers would not budge from this position, the convoy left with the troops only on board the military vehicles.
According to “Mediafax”, some of the transport operators have even demanded an end to military escorts altogether, on the grounds that Renamo has claimed that military vehicles, and not civilian ones, are its target. The idea that convoys without military escorts would travel the road safely remains to be tested, and it seems rather unlikely that the authorities will take the risk of leaving the hundreds of buses, trucks and cars in the convoys and their civilian drivers and passengers, at the mercy of Renamo.
After hearing of the morning ambush, many buses and trucks declined to join the afternoon return convoy from the Save to Muxungue. That convoy left the Save at about 16.00 and made it to Muxungue safely, without any further Renamo attack.
Post published in: Africa News