Tens of thousands of people in Mozambique are evacuating their homes in the troubled Cabo Delgado province following an escalation in deadly insurgent attacks since January.
Despite extensive security measures, the attacks persist, coinciding with plans by French oil company TotalEnergies to resume operations on a $20-billion liquefied natural gas terminal in Cabo Delgado in the coming months.
The project had been suspended in 2021 after a fatal attack linked to the Islamic State occurred in a nearby town.
Recent incidents include a fatal clash on February 9, resulting in the deaths of up to 25 Mozambique Defense Armed Force soldiers, as reported by local media. This represents a significant setback to government efforts to suppress violence during an election year.
A senior government official disclosed on Tuesday that over 67,000 individuals have fled attacks in the past weeks, with many seeking refuge in the neighboring province of Nampula or safer areas within Cabo Delgado itself.
“What is particularly concerning to UNICEF is that the majority of these displaced individuals are women and children, comprising more than two-thirds of the total,” stated Guy Taylor, UNICEF’s spokesperson in Mozambique, on Wednesday.
As of this year, 56 incidents of insurgent-led aggression have been recorded, according to Tertius Jacobs, head analyst for Mozambique at the risk management firm Focus Group.
“So, only two months into the year and we’ve already had more than half of the number of attacks we’ve had for the whole of last year,” he highlighted.
Insurgents have been targeting civilian establishments such as churches and residences, posing a “significant risk” to a crucial highway route, EN1, responsible for transporting vital commodities to Nacala port, Jacobs added.
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne stated that the company is closely monitoring the situation to ensure safety before resuming operations.
“What I want to avoid is making the decision to bring people back and then being forced to evacuate them again,” he emphasized during an announcement of the 2023 annual results in early February.
The company declined to offer further comments on the recent attacks. Mozambique’s defense ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Additionally, ExxonMobil, considering a separate LNG terminal in Cabo Delgado, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Experts anticipate that the Rwandan army, primarily responsible for patrolling the energy hub zone in the north of Cabo Delgado, will expand its role once a regional Southern African military force concludes its deployment to Mozambique in July.
“The insurgency is not nearing its end, and the push for normalization is primarily driven by economic interests rather than the realities on the ground in Cabo Delgado,” stated Jasmine Opperman, an extremism expert specializing in southern Africa.
“This orchestrated chaos aims to instil fear, recruit supporters, and propagate an Islamic extremism narrative,” Opperman added.