According to the non-governmental organization ACLED, the country has been facing since 2017 a wave of jihadist organizations that has claimed the lives of about 4,000 people, while turning 800,000 people into internally displaced persons.
At least seven people have been killed, four of them beheaded, in recent jihadist attacks in northeastern Mozambique as violence spreads to areas that have remained relatively intact so far and are causing new mass displacement.
According to announcements by the UN and Save the Children NGO on Tuesday, 10,000 people fled their homes last week. The country has been facing a wave of jihadist violence since 2017 that has claimed the lives of about 4,000 people, according to the non-governmental organization ACLED, while turning 800,000 people into internally displaced persons.
The jihadists are mainly looting the northeastern tip of impoverished, despite its wealth of natural resources, in the province of Campos Delgadu, near the border with Tanzania.
But in early June, a series of attacks were recorded further south, in the Anquabe area, 45 kilometers from the port of Pemba, the provincial capital. This district was considered “safe” until now, Save the Children stressed.
“At least four people have been beheaded in recent attacks, something unprecedented in the region,” the NGO said. Residents of villages in the area who fled spoke of beheadings, rapes, house fires and kidnappings, the aid organization continued.
In front of a truck full of people, Amidou Pereira explained to the French Agency why he took his family and left his place: “I saw a woman holding in her hands the severed head of her husband. “When they saw that, everyone decided to leave.”
On the side of the road, groups of men and women, some with children in their backs, carrying packages, were walking towards Pemba, a photojournalist of the French Agency found.
Mine
In another attack last week, two members of a private security company working in a mine in the area were killed.
“On June 8, our facility in Ancuba became the target of an attack,” Triton Minerals said in a press release issued yesterday. “Two guards were mortally wounded.” The Australian company mines toner in the area.
According to diplomats and humanitarian officials, travel has been restricted since the beginning of the month due to the escalation of violence. Following a large-scale military operation last year, the wave of violence had escalated as before, in part thanks to the deployment of troops from the region.
After a deadly attack on the port of Palma in March 2021, the French energy giant TotalEnergies suspended a liquefied natural gas project with a budget of 16.5 billion euros, in a location a few kilometers from the city.
Since last July, Rwanda and other southern African countries have deployed more than 3,100 troops to support Mozambique’s armed forces, which have been unable to control the situation. Jihadist organizations have expanded, but continue to carry out sporadic attacks, adopting more classic guerrilla warfare tactics.
The SAMIM regional force announced Monday that its units had killed “several terrorists” during an operation. The military suffered one casualty and six members were injured.
The Mozambican government is trying to reassure investors, assuring that progress is being made in the fight against the jihadists. The 2010 discovery of the largest gas fields in sub-Saharan Africa raised hopes for Maputu that the country would generate billions in revenue from exploitation, in a country whose GDP does not exceed 13 billion euros a year. But most of the projects have been suspended.
The wave of violence has also caused a humanitarian crisis, due to the mass displacement of the population. The United States announced on Tuesday, during a visit to Mozambique, the third class of US diplomacy, Victoria Nuland, the provision of 28.3 million euros in aid through the UN World Food Program (WFP).
