File picture. Displaced women meet on December 11, 2020 at the Centro Agrrio de Napala where hundreds of displaced arrived in recent months are sheltered, fleeing attacks by armed insurgents in different areas of the province of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique. (Photo by Alfredo Zuniga / AFP)
Pilots, military operators and technicians from a South African-based private military company have emerged as the heroes of the ongoing slaughter in Northern Mozambique, rescuing scores of locals and expatriates from advancing insurgents.
Taking ground fire from the insurgents and dealing with a critical lack of aviation fuel, helicopters from the Dyck Advisory Group (DAG) uplifted people from the town of Palma and surrounds in five days of brutal assaults by insurgents.
DAG choppers, firing from the air, helped turn away a number of attacks and managed to secure a perimeter around a hotel in the town, allowing many people to be evacuated.
DAG’s helicopters were “the only ones operating in the area” at the time of the insurgent action, according to reports from those who escaped.
There were Mozambican troops stationed at the liquid natural gas operation run by French firm Total in the vicinity, but they were not deploying. Nor were other private military contractors who had brought in a Russian Mi24 Hind attack helicopter.
Later reports said Mozambican forces secured the centre of the town on Saturday night but had not moved to clear the surrounding areas.
Max Dyck, Chief Operating Officer of DAG, confirmed that the rescue operations were ongoing.
He added: “Our guys are not doing this for the money. They want to help people and they are prepared to risk their lives to do so.”
He confirmed that some people in the Palma hotel had decided to flee by road in a convoy of 17 vehicles and that they had been ambushed on their way to safety.
At least 10 of the vehicles in the convoy didn’t make it through and there were fears that those on them were either killed in the ambush or had been taken hostage by the insurgents.
The DAG contract is due to expire on 6 April and there have, so far, been no official indications that it will be renewed.
DAG was accused earlier this month, in a report by Amnesty International, of being involved in atrocities against civilians during its operations against the insurgents – allegations the company says it has engaged a top legal team to investigate.
Company founder Colonel Lionel Dyck earlier told The Citizen that all of the group’s operations were meticulously documented, through situation reports, which included exact details of locations where action was taken.
In addition, no action was taken without the approval of a senior Mozambican officer flying in a DAG aircraft.
Max Dyck said DAG operations would continue as long as people needed to be rescued.
One of those rescued expressed his thanks to the group in a WhatsApp message circulated on a group.
“I know that you have received some bad press recently. I read it. But I’ve been trying to find the right words to convey to you and your team that I quite possibly owe your guys my life.”
The man said he had witnessed the evacuation of 23 people from the Amarula Lodge hotel and that he was on the last chopper out.
“That meant that I was not in the convoy that resulted in so much loss of life. I don’t know exactly why my colleagues who took that hell run had no air support but my expats got through to the beach and got to the mangroves and sent us the coordinates to enable us to set up an extraction operation get them all back safely.
“The man said the chaos at Palma had shown the Mozambican government “their resistance to this threat is ineffectual”.
– brendans@citizen.co.za
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