MOZAMBIQUE - REPORT OF PREPARATIONS TO ASSIST

S E C R E T MAPUTO 000029 SIPDIS SIPDIS AF/S FOR HTREGER E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/08/2017 TAGS: PREF PTER MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE - REPORT OF PREPARATIONS TO ASSIST EXPECTED ARRIVALS FROM SOMALIA REF: USDAO MAPUTO IIR 6 866 0038 07/POTENTIAL FOR SOMALI MILITANTS TO MOVE INTO NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE. Classified By: Charge d' Affairs James Dudley, reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (S) In a brief conversation in the morning of January 5, a Muslim religious figure in Maputo relayed the following information to emboff: ¶2. (S) According to his sources, three 20-foot containers of supplies -- including beans, rice, blankets, salt, sugar, tea, used clothing for males, and an undisclosed sum of South African rand and US dollars -- were being transported overland that day to northern Mozambique. The supplies are to succor expected arrivals fleeing fighting in Somalia. Accompanying the containers were two tabligh jamaat members ("tabligh jamaat" people in Mozambique, according this religious figure, are young male missionaries sent here from South Asia to spread religion and fundraise),with perhaps several others going north to assist this past weekend. ¶3. (S) During the night of January 4 there had been a "contentious" meeting among Muslims in Maputo, but at the end the decision was made to send the supplies up north. ¶4. (S) He thought Somalis would be departing Kenya for Mozambique by air, and advised that the airport in Nairobi should be watched. ¶5. (S) Comment: We want to stress that we have no corroborating evidence of this reported movement of supplies nor any information on any suspicious arrival of Somalis in Mozambique in the past few days. However, Mozambique's porous borders and large Muslim community make it a plausible destination or transit country for Islamic militants fleeing Somalia, and we would welcome any available information on the likelihood of such movements. Our source is a black Muslim who is very open about his concern over the influx of Asian tabligh jamaatis in Mozambique in the past year or so, and of his fear that they will radicalize and destabilize the Muslim community here. Dudley