Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday challenged the new leadership of the State Information and Security Service (SISE) to improve the use of modern methods to respond to crimes, including terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and to anticipate enemy action.
He was speaking at the ceremony where he swore into office the new General Director of SISE, Bernardo Lidimba, and his deputy, Joia Aquirene. Lidimba succeeds Julio dos Santos Jane, who had been at the head of SISE since 2017.
Nyusi called for ever closer coordination amongst all the defence and security forces, who should all operate under a single command.
Teamwork and a permanent exchange of information at each level of the forces should be effective "so that we can obtain satisfactory and incisive results in our drive against the enemies of our sovereignty and of our state", he urged.
Nyusi added that Mozambicans want a SISE leadership that is ever more prudent in State matters, and that manages to recover the respect, trust and dignity of the organization.
SISE is recovering from a dark period in its history when it was the driving force behind the scandal of Mozambique's "hidden debts". A former SISE General Director, Gregorio Leao, and the then head of economic intelligence, Antonio Carlos do Rosario, are currently on trial before the Maputo City Court for their role in setting up three fraudulent companies which obtained loans of over two billion US dollars from the banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia for coastal protection and fishing projects that were never viable.
Nyusi recalled that, in addition to terrorism and violent extremism, new threats are appearing. "I am referring, by way of example, to corruption in its various forms, to the illegal, lawless and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources, to organized transnational crime, money laundering, drug trafficking, tax evasion, maritime piracy, illegal immigration, kidnappings, armed robberies, and economic espionage", he said. "When it carries out its duties to the full, SISE contributes to preventing all acts that are assaults against the constitution".
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Peace, security and development are the desired goals that the country is pursuing, he said, but recently peace has been threatened by aggression, which leads to rethinking the way of approaching challenges.
"This situation of violence based on terror, characterized by aggression which yesterday seemed far away, but is living with us today makes us aware that threats always exist which can never be ignored", declared Nyusi.
For his part, Lidimba said that terrorism cannot be stopped with words, but he hoped that, with SISE under his leadership, this evil will be eradicated.
"I believe that the team is ready", he added. "This is an evil which plagues society, and I believe that we shall end it. But I don't believe that evil is defeated with simple words. We have to work".
