Mozambican jihadist violence expands despite military effort

NANJUA, Mozambique

Fleeing beheadings, shootings, rapes and kidnappings, nearly a million people are displaced by the extremist Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique.

The 5-year wave of jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado province has killed more than 4,000 people and sabotaged billions of dollars in international investments.

In a stretch of dilapidated tents and thatched-roof huts around Nanjua, a small town in southern Cabo Delgado province, several hundred families seek shelter from the violence. They say their conditions are deplorable and food aid is meager, but they are afraid to return home due to continued violence by rebels who now call themselves Islamic State in Mozambique Province.

More than 1,000 miles to the south, however, government officials in the capital Maputo say the insurgency is under control and are encouraging the displaced to return home and energy companies to resume their projects.

“Terrorists are on the run all the time,” Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi assured investors at the Mozambique Energy and Gas Summit in Maputo in September. He urged the gathering of international energy leaders to resume work on their stalled liquefied natural gas projects.

Mozambican army and police forces, backed by Rwandan troops and the backing of a regional force from the Southern African Development Community, managed to contain the extremist rebellion, officials said.

“These places are now normalized and civilians are coming back,” the Rwandan brigadier said. General Ronald Rwivanga, told Rwandan newspaper The New Times this month, saying normal life is back in Palma district.

Energy companies say they want to see displaced people return to the area. The $60 billion liquefied natural gas projects by French companies TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil were suspended last year after insurgents briefly captured the nearby city of Palma in March.

Speaking at the Maputo summit, Stéphane Le Galles, head of TotalEnergies’ gas project in Mozambique, said “the direction is very good” but that the company still wants to see “a sustainable economic situation, not just in Palma but …everywhere in Cabo”. Delgado.

Despite the strong presence of Mozambican and Rwandan soldiers, extremist attacks continue. Earlier this month, the rebels extended their violence for the first time to neighboring Nampula province, where a Catholic mission was among the targets and an elderly Italian nun was among those killed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it “considers that security conditions are too volatile in Cabo Delgado to facilitate or promote returns to the province”, in a statement issued earlier this month.

“People who have lost everything are returning to areas where services and humanitarian aid are largely unavailable,” UNHCR said.

Those who return find themselves in a mixed situation. Economic life is beginning to resume but basic infrastructure and public services are still lacking. Few schools are open and health services are scarce.

In the provincial capital, Pemba, where more than 100,000 displaced people have sought refuge, an elderly woman sat outside a hut where her family of 15 made their home two years ago after fleeing an insurgent attack. They feed on a meager diet of cornmeal and plain rice. Unable to find work, they have no money to buy clothes or other basic necessities, she said.

“Certainly we want to come back. This is not a home,” said the grandmother, who spoke on condition of anonymity for her safety.

With their villages further north now destroyed, she says it will be even more difficult to return to normal life.

Weighing the risks and costs of returning, many have decided to stay put, despite the hardships they face in displacement camps.

“Over there, it’s war and hunger,” says another displaced person from the Nanjua camp. “We wouldn’t go to a better place.”

A mother cradling a small child sitting on a grass mat said the threat of extremist violence remained a concern. She said many remained haunted by their experiences at the hands of insurgents: “It’s hard to sleep in a place where you’ve seen a snake.”