Mozambique’s Raging Insurgency

An Islamist militant group closely linked to ISIS has for the past 3 years reigned havoc in the Northern Mozambican province of Cabo Degrado. The conflict has left over 700,000 people displaced and thousands dead. Now, tensions have reached fever pitch as a latest attack on the town of Palma sent shock waves across the region.

The insurgency is strongly attributed to high levels of poverty in the province that have allowed the militants to easily swell their ranks as well as gross mismanagement of the security response by President Filipe Nyusi’s government whose army has failed to contain the conflict.

 The insurgency poses a huge threat to the over $60 billion worth of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) projects in the province, the largest in Africa. The latest attack in Palma was carried out only 15km from French energy giant Total’s construction site and just a day after the company had announced a restart to its project forcing it to shut down again.

More importantly perhaps, is the tremendous risk the conflict imposes on the political stability of Southeast Africa as a region. Already, it is reported that last year the insurgents crept over the border into neighboring Tanzania which also currently faces a growing refugee crisis from the conflict. A mishandling of the situation could culminate into a wider security problem across neighboring nations, a phenomenon too familiar in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.