Published on 26/09/2024
Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi revealed that the extremist group Islamic State is financing the armed groups responsible for the ongoing violence in Cabo Delgado. This acknowledgment highlights the escalating threat and the need for intensified security measures.
‘The other great concern of Mozambicans, of friends of peace, is about the source of funding and the logistics of military support for the terrorist group in Cabo Delgado province. There is beginning to be a consensus that part of the support comes from the Islamic State,’ said the head of state during the official ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the launch of the National Liberation Struggle and the Day of the Armed Defence Forces of Mozambique (FADM).
According to Filipe Nyusi, in addition to Islamic State, the terrorist groups that have carried out attacks in Cabo Delgado since 2017 are also financed by funds collected from relatives of citizens captured during the raids, especially economic agents.
‘The terrorists also coerce captured citizens and economic agents to pay ransom to their relatives or the owners of economic ventures, which serves as support for their attacks,’ emphasised Filipe Nyusi.
Filipe Nyusi said Mozambique fought against a ‘faceless enemy’ whose intentions ‘are unclear’.
The Mozambican head of state asked the population of Cabo Delgado to be vigilant, to report the presence of terrorists to the authorities and to avoid collaborating with insurgent groups at the risk of becoming targets during confrontations with the Defence and Security Forces.
‘It’s difficult to know who is who,’ acknowledged the Mozambican head of state.
He also lamented the fact that some Mozambicans are leading the terrorist movement, naming at least six people who are allegedly part of the insurgents’ chain of command in northern Mozambique.
Filipe Nyusi also said that the situation is under control and that the terrorists are confined to some areas of the forests of the administrative posts of Mucojo, Quiterajo, in Macomia. From there, they carry out sporadic attacks in an attempt to find logistical means to ‘sustain their actions’.
Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.
The last major attack took place on 10 and 11 May on the district headquarters of Macomia, with around a hundred insurgents sacking the town, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and Rwandan soldiers, who are supporting Mozambique in the fight against the rebels.
Since the beginning of August, different sources on the ground, including the local force, have reported intense clashes between the joint military mission and the insurgents in the forests of the Mucojo administrative post (Macomia), involving helicopters, armoured vehicles and heavily armed men, with reports of shootings in places considered to be hiding places for these groups.
