Militants launch desperate raids on Cabo Delgado
Insurgent attacks are now extending further into the centre and south of Cabo Delgado, particularly the districts of Ancuabe and Balama.
Luis Nhachote in Maputo
Jihadist insurgents are escalating their attacks in northern Mozambique, with two incidents reported in Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces in recent weeks.
One attack early this month targeted soldiers of the Rwanda Defence Force in Cabo Delgado’s Ntotwe village. Three Rwandan soldiers were reportedly killed.
The Islamic State Mozambique Province (ISMP) claimed responsibility for this attack, releasing rare footage of the bodies of the dead on its propaganda networks. Local sources say that the insurgents also seized two RPG-7 rocket launchers.
Insurgent attacks are now extending further into the centre and south of Cabo Delgado, particularly the districts of Ancuabe and Balama. In Niassa province, a South African-owned tourism resort on the banks of the Lugenda River was looted and some of its structures were razed.
Militants took or destroyed fuel, food, protective clothing, vehicles, spare parts, communication equipment, water pumps and solar systems at the Chapungu-Kambako Safaris camp.
“It’s devastating to see 20 years of hard work and dedication turn to ashes in a single day,” Jumbo Moore, one of the Chapungu-Kambako owners, told local press. Customers with bookings at the raided camp are being redirected to properties the company runs in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The Niassa Special Reserve in which the raided camp is located is at the provincial border with Cabo Delgado.
The attackers killed two reserve inspectors and another two are still missing. Another camp in the reserve, Mariri Sport Hunting Camp, also reported an attack in late April.
“This episode represents a worrying expansion of the conflict that has ravaged the north of the country, now reaching one of Mozambique’s most important conservation areas,” said a statement from Niassa Carnivore Project, a group working to conserve African wild dogs and other large meat eaters in the reserve.
The project recalled staff from the camp following the two attacks.
Gas-rich Cabo Delgado has been facing Islamic State attacks since October 2017. In 2021, more than 2,000 Rwandan troops were sent into the province to fight back and secure the area where French oil giant TotalEnergies has a natural gas exploration project. The recent attacks came just a few months after the Rwandan army sent a new contingent to the region, as reported attacks were increasing.
The ISMP is trying to raise funds through the renewed attacks, says Crisis Group, a non-profit which monitors conflict around the world. This push may be linked to Islamic State’s setbacks in Somalia. The Somalia arm of the Islamic State distributed funds to affiliates throughout Africa, including to those in northern Mozambique. As Somalia financing dries up, the outcrops are resorting to looting and extortion raids.