Dozens of people were killed in an attack on the northern Mozambique town of Palma this week.
A South African, Andian Nel has been killed in the violence in Mozambique, his mother Meryl Knox has told media. Her husband and another son hid with his body in the bush until the following morning, when they were able to make it to safety in Pemba, she said. Knox told Sky News that her son was working as a contractor in the area. He had been there since about 8 January. Her message for the Mozambique authorities was: “Please, you should have had a better army. You should have called your neighbours for help or the international community. There have been horrific crimes against humanity.” She claimed that insurgents sent “flyers” warning that there would be an attack. She said insurgents had attacked a nearby village recently. Knox said: “I feel that my son shouldn’t have died. There should have been more help. I believe the Mozambique army didn’t try to protect them.” She said she felt there should have been sufficient protection for the locals in the area. She said Nel, her other son and husband were waiting at the Amarula hotel waiting to be evacuated. She said he had lived near the hotel. “I just got news that there had been an attack. We couldn’t get hold of anybody on the phone.” She said her husband later contacted her via a satellite phone last Wednesday to inform her of the situation. “We heard about horrific conflict going on. I believe there were 190 people in the hotel.” She said she last heard from her family on Friday, after they had received word that they were waiting to be evacuated.
