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The people of Cabo Delgado, a province in Northern Mozambique, have witnessed militant extremism since 2017.
Militants with links to ISIS were reported to have beheaded over 50 people in Mozambique last week. This continues the terrorism that has raged in the country since late 2017, after a group of armed men attacked three police stations in Mocimboa de Praia, killing 17 people. This triggered over three years of violence that seems to show no signs of stopping.
According to the UK government travel advice page, militants “have used explosives, machetes and firearms to conduct lethal attacks, including attacks on vehicles.”
The gruesome attacks were carried out from 6th to 8th November, following days of building fear within the Cabo Delgado district of Muatide. They had murdered people, set homes alight and abducted women and children before going after those who had “fled into the woods and started with their macabre actions”, says Bernardino Rafael, commander-general of Mozambique's police in a media briefing.
Villagers were caught and dragged back to a local football pitch, which they turned into an “execution ground”, by brutally slaughtering the victims. According to the Associated Press, the victims included a group of 15 boys who were taking part in a traditional initiation rite ceremony.
The insurgent group, known locally as al-Shabaab, wants to establish Islamic rule over the area and have grown in recruitment numbers by exploiting youth unemployment, poverty and vulnerability through radical ideology.
The attack has prompted international outcry, with the French President, Emmanuel Macron tweeting on the 11th: “In Mozambique, more than 50 people have been beheaded, women kidnapped, villages looted and then set on fire. Barbarians hijack a religion of peace to sow terror: Islamist terrorism is an international threat that calls for an international response.”
Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s president, also tweeted his solidarity with the Mozambique’s government, saying: “Zimbabwe is ready to assist in any way we can. The security of our region is paramount in the protection of our people.”
The attacks come after a further 52 people were killed in an attack in April, and earlier this month, nine people were beheaded, both in the same province. The threat of terrorism first became apparent on the 5th of October 2017. Since then, up to 2000 people have been killed and around 430,000 people left homeless by the armed conflict.
In August, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional organisation of 16 countries, expressed their concern with the ongoing terrorist attacks and said they would support Mozambique’s efforts in fighting back against the militants. There is also now concern that the violence could spread to surrounding countries in Africa, but, even by the end of the virtual SADC summit which took place on August 17th, there was still no plan or decision of a practical resolution.
However, human rights groups have also condemned the Mozambique government for human rights abuses while responding to the terrorist attacks, which, according to the US Report on Human Rights Practices of Mozambique, include the “unlawful or arbitrary killings by government security forces; arbitrary detention; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; widespread acts of official corruption; and violence against women and inadequate government efforts to investigate, prosecute, or otherwise hold perpetrators accountable.”
After long denying the existence of extremists in Mozambique, and only admitting the truth in April after increased violence, the government has now appealed for international aid to curb the insurgency. Due to their lack of financial resources, ill-trained soldiers and soldiers who suffer from low morale, Mozambique is not able to fight the insurgency alone.