Mozambique: the conflict continues as dozens die in Palma

On March 24, insurgents took control of Palma, a city of approximately 75,000 inhabitants situated in the gas-rich province of Capo Delgado in Mozambique. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave and dozens have been killed in the attack (Aljazeera, 2021a; Goldbaum, 2021a).

The attack came a few hours after Mozambique’s government and the French company Total, announced they would continue their work on a gas project near Palma. The attack started in the late afternoon when approximately 100 militants, divided into two groups, arrived in the town. Later on, about 100 extra insurgents reached the area, attacking villages on the way and cutting off roads that lead into the town to prevent government forces from sending help.

Approximately 200 people sought refuge inside the Amarula Palma hotel late Wednesday, while the militants destroyed most of the town, targeting governmental buildings. On Friday afternoon, people trapped inside the hotel tried to escape in a 17-vehicle convoy. However, only 7 vehicles managed to escape, and many were killed in the attempt (Goldbaum, 2021b). Several decapitated bodies have been found on the streets. Approximately 11,000 people had to leave Palma fleeing by boat, road, or foot (Goldbaum, 2021a; Aljazeera, 2021a).

The insurgents have been identified with al-Shabaab, a group of armed forces with loose ties to ISIS that has claimed credit for the attack (Sabbagh,2021). The group is estimated to have approximately 2,500 members between the ages of 20 and 35. Analysts believe that the attack has origins in the spread of political, religious, and economic discontent (Aljazeera, 2021a; Stepansky, 2021). The group was formed in 2017, beginning with only a few dozen members. Since then their attacks on schools, hospitals, and towns have become more and more frequent (Goldbaum, 2021b).

Since the beginning of the conflict, approximately 2,600 people have been killed by insurgents. At the beginning of 2020, the conflict had displaced around 18,000 people but the number has risen to over 600,000 (Goldbaum, 2021a; Aljazeera, 2021a). In total, 700,000 people have been displaced since the beginning of the conflict (Africa News, 2021).

Capo Delgado is a neglected Muslim area in a Christian dominated country where, in 2020 alone, approximately 1,600 people were killed. In the worst incident 50 civilians were decapitated on a football field (Sabbagh, 2021). Since the beginning of the conflict, 160,000 women and young girls, as well as 19,000 pregnant women, have been displaced. Most of them have been living with host families but, lately, their resources are becoming scarcer (UN News, 2021a).

Women have been forced into marriage against their will and many of them have been victims of rapes or sexual violence. There are also reports of children being forcibly recruited in armed groups. Following the last attack on Palma, approximately, 950 pregnant women in the area have been displaced and cannot currently access life-saving emergency obstetric care. Thousands of women may also require care for sexual and gender-based violence (UN News, 2021b). Since violence erupted 2,600 people have arrived in the districts of Nangade, Mueda, Montepuez, and Pemba. 43 % of them are children. Food supplies are limited and 950,000 people in the region of Cabo Delgado are considered food insecure (Marima, 2021). More than 1,000 people have been trying to seek refuge in Tanzania but were rejected at the border (UN News, 2021a, Aljazeera, 2021c).

After the attack, the French oil and gas company, Total, withdrew all its staff. Its project was worth $60 billion and was supposed to revolutionize Mozambique’s $15 billion economy (The Guardian, 2021). Capo Delgado is home to Africa’s three largest natural gas projects. Its gas resources were found in 2010 by the US energy company, Anadarko. Despite these projects being worth billions of dollars, the population of Cabo Delgado has not enjoyed any of their benefits. Many families have been relocated and have lost access to their cultivated lands and fishing grounds. Many complain that the compensations have been inadequate. Reports show that families have been allocated lands that were in territories of different communities, creating further conflicts. In other cases, the plots allocated were too far from people’s houses (Rawoot, 2020).

Mozambique has deployed thousands of soldiers to fight the insurgents but many experts believe that Mozambique’s troops and security forces are highly unprepared and ill-equipped (Stepansky, 2021; Aljazeera, 2021a). Moreover, governmental forces have been accused of violent reprisals, including summary execution (Sabbagh, 2021). Mozambique’s government has collaborated with a private military company, Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), an anti-poaching group that has been accused by Amnesty International of indiscriminate shootings and of dropping hand grenades into crowds (Aljazeera, 2021b; Sabbagh, 2021).

Doctors Without Borders (DWB) has been running a medical project in Montepuez in Cabo Delgado since November 2020. According to their reports, there are currently 50,000 people living in camps or in host communities. Many people reported that, on their way to the camps, they saw many dead bodies as well as people dying of starvation and dehydration. DWB is trying to identify the route taken by the many people who flee Palma by foot, as people lacking family help are likely still on the road with limited access to food and water. The organization has positioned mental health centers at each of the entry points in Montepuez to provide immediate help (DWB, 2021). Only a part of the UN’s $250 million humanitarian appeal plan has been funded to help Cabo Delgado (Marima, 2021). “This is a humanitarian catastrophe beyond epic proportions,” said a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) representative (UN News, 2021a).