Islamic extremists cannot be ‘left to linger’ in Mozambique

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Insurgents in Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique have advanced southwards, with military forces meant to repel them hampered by logistical efforts, limited intelligence and understaffing. 

The spread of the insurgents comes amid military efforts by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Rwanda and Mozambique to combat it. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is the largest contributor to SADC’s operation in Mozambique, known as the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM).

Since July, the insurgents have gained an estimated 134km of territory towards Nampula, south of Cabo Delgado, west towards Niassa, and north into neighbouring Tanzania. 

Risk analyst Jasmine Opperman says the expansion must serve as a warning to all regional states. “The Islamic State is presenting itself in its most brutal form in Cabo Delgado, unknown to the region prior to Cabo Delgado and the insurgency. 

“Once the Islamic State gets a footprint within a specific territorial area, it seldom gets pushed out of it,” she said, referencing Iraq and Syria.

But there was a greater concern about Alu-Sunnah wal Jama’ah — locally called al-Shabaab or Mashabab — than the Islamic State and violence “could easily spread to other parts of Mozambique and countries in Southern Africa”, according to an August study by the Institute for Security Studies and the Judicial Training Institute of Mozambique. 

The study said the insurgency was the result of poor governance, valuable natural resources such as minerals, endemic corruption and political exclusion. It added: “It is observed that the escalation and sustenance of terrorism in Cabo Delgado are the result of intertwined foreign and domestic factors, which are evolving with the conflict.

Children are seen through a broken window on September 30, 2022. – In March 2021, fighters affiliated to the Islamic State group attacked the port city of Palma — the jewel in the crown of a gas project that would supposedly shower Cabo Delgado province with good jobs and desperately-needed infrastructure. (Photo by Camille LAFFONT / AFP)