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MAPUTO. – Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday sacked defence minister Jaime Neto, without giving a reason or announcing a replacement.

Neto’s sacking comes a day after Nyusi fired interior minister Amade Miquidade, again without giving a reason for the decision.

Neto was responsible for managing the country’s response to an Islamist insurgency in the country’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado as part of his role.

“The President of the Republic, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi… dismissed through presidential order Jaime Bessa Augusto Neto from the office of the minister of national defence,” the government said in a short statement, without elaborating.

Militants with links to Islamic State have in recent years stepped up attacks in Cabo Delgado, also home to blockbuster oil and gas projects worth some US$60 billion.

Mozambique’s military was losing ground to the insurgency until it accepted foreign troops from regional bloc the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda, which together helped the country win back lost ground.

During the closing of the training courses for sergeants of the Armed Defence Forces, on Wednesday in Maputo province, Filipe Nyusi said that a process of restructuring the Defence and Security Forces was underway, aimed at strengthening the “core” that will ensure the “maintenance of the victories” that Mozambique has achieved in the fight against armed groups in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country. – Reuters