Shipowners should stop crew changes in northern Mozambique as seafarers are at risk of attack or kidnapping by violent terrorist groups operating in the region, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said, joining calls by the Norwegian Maritime Unions (NMU) for a crew change suspension until the threat reduces in the area.
The NMU has written to the Norwegian Shipowners Association (NSA) asking the body’s members to avoid the province of Cabo Delgado since violence escalated in recent weeks due the growing power of terror organizations, such as ISIL-affiliated Ansar-al-Sunna and local cells of al-Shabab (‘The Youth’).
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Ansar-al-Sunna was initially known for beheadings but has shifted its strategy to attempting the take-over of entire towns in Mozambique’s northern-most region, with even more deadly results. Ansar-al-Sunna fighters have specifically targeted foreign workers, ITF said.
Therefore, now the ITF is extending the NMU’s call to all the world’s shipowners to steer clear of the conflict area, and to issue instructions to their ship management firms and manning agencies to do likewise.
Asking seafarers to come ashore, to stay in Covid quarantine facilities, while the volatile situation happening outside risks their very lives? That is unacceptable. Seafarers could be killed or taken hostage on their way to airports and harbours. All we are asking for is that the owners of ships serving northern Mozambique make alternative plans so that their crew changes can take place elsewhere, somewhere safer,
…said Johnny Hansen, president of the Norwegian Seafarers’ Union, which is one of the three unions that form the NMU.
On his part, the ITF Africa regional secretary Mohammed Dauda Safiyanu said that Mozambique’s maritime unions were supporting the call for seafarers and international workers to avoid Cabo Delgado while the situation remained volatile, and proposed other parts of Mozambique’s coast that remain relatively safe to perform crew changes for international workers, including Biera, Nacala and Maputo.
We are calling on Mozambique’s government to take all necessary efforts to foster peace and security in the war zone areas so that the people of Mozambique, and Mozambican transport workers in particular, can pick up the pieces of their lives,
…said Safiyanu.
Last Wednesday, the nations of the Southern African Development Community agreed to deploy troops to Mozambique to combat the insurgents operating in Cabo Delago.
Just as we are seeing in the Gulf of Guinea with violent attacks by pirates on seafarers and fishers, and as we saw in recent years with assaults on foreign ships around the Horn of Africa: conflict zones and economic upheaval near coasts have the potential to increase the risk of opportunistic attacks on international maritime workers by armed criminals,
…added Hansen.
