Cabo Ligado Weekly: 11-17 January 2021
Format
Total number of organized violence events: 755
Total number of reported fatalities from organized violence: 2,533
Total number of reported fatalities from civilian targeting: 1,280
All ACLED data are available for download via the data export tool, and a curated Mozambique dataset is available on the Cabo Ligado home page.
Situation Summary
There were few reported insurgent operations in Cabo Delgado last week. Instead, government forces made most of the headlines, both for recovering kidnapped civilians in Macomia district and for ongoing abuses against civilians in Muidumbe district.
On 13 January, Mozambican police chief Bernardino Rafael presented to reporters 15 women and six children who government forces had rescued after they were kidnapped during the 7 January insurgent attack on Ilha Matemo, Ibo district. After leaving Ilha Matemo, the group stopped at Olumboa, Macomia district. According to Rafael, helicopters working with government forces tracked the group to Olumboa and then assaulted the insurgents, separating the 21 hostages from their captors. Casualties among insurgents or hostages are unknown. Speaking to reporters, one of the women recounted that they had been taken by a group of roughly 30 insurgents, who told them that they would be sent to Mocimboa da Praia to study in a madrassa. This account is similar to other reports from people who have lived under insurgent control. Many such reports have described efforts to indoctrinate civilians into insurgent religious and political ideas in areas of strong insurgent control.