Mozambique
|
Status of conflict |
Insurgency ongoing in small pockets but significantly weakened |
|
Common name used for the war/conflict |
The Insurgency in Cabo Delgado |
|
Conflict Start Date |
5 October 2017, first major attack in Mocímboa da Praia. |
|
Insurgent Allegiance to Islamic State |
ASWJ (locally al-Shabaab) pledged allegiance to IS in July 2019, recognized as Wilayat Mozambique in May 2022. |
|
Foreign Military Intervention |
Rwanda and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces deployed in July 2021. |
|
Estimated Deaths |
4,000–6,500 since 2017; approx. 5,766 fatalities as of September 2024. |
|
Refugees |
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs): Over 1 million at peak in 2022; 577,000 IDPs as of July 2024. |
|
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) |
Over 1 million at peak in 2022; 577,000 IDPs as of July 2024. |
|
People in Need of Humanitarian Assistance |
At least 2 million in 2023; over 2.2 million after Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019. |
|
Children Affected by School Closures |
Hundreds of thousands displaced and out of school |
|
Corporate Security Agreements |
TotalEnergies funded Mozambican military to guard LNG projects. |
|
Resource Factor |
Oil, Gas & Rubies |
|
Key corporate players |
Offshore LNG projects (TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, Eni) and Montepuez ruby mines (Gemfields, local elites). |
What the Conflict is Really About
The Cabo Delgado insurgency is not only a jihadist war. It is also about who controls and benefits from Mozambique’s oil, gas, and rubies, with ordinary people left out and exploited, and violence erupting around those exclusions.
Resource Curse: Communities were dispossessed for ruby mines and LNG megaprojects, with little compensation. Jobs and wealth went to elites and foreign firms, not locals.
Land Grabs: Families were expelled from their land for the Afungi LNG Park, losing livelihoods.
Corporate–Military Nexus: Multinational companies bankrolled security forces, making them direct stakeholders in the war.
Recruitment Fuel: Dispossessed youth, excluded from jobs and angered by corruption, found insurgents’ promises of justice and belonging attractive.
Militarisation & Abuse: Both insurgents and government troops committed atrocities, with civilians caught between jihadist violence and state repression.