The U.S. Embassy in Tanzania issued a security alert to all Westerners and the general public on Jan. 25, following intelligence of a possible terrorist attack.
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Introduction
Since early October 2017, when the Islamist militants or jihadists – identified as the Ansar al-Sunna – launched their first attacks in the villages and towns of Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado, insurgency and conflict has continued to escalate, targeting civilians, public infrastructure and government buildings. Although the Government of Mozambique continues to make concerted efforts to fight and subdue the terrorist insurgency through its national defence forces, the
Forças Armadas de Defesa de Moçambique (FADM), a series of battles with the terrorist militants has resulted in widespread violence, insecurity, the death of over 2 400 people
[1] and the displacement of over 500 000 civilians by the end of November 2020.
The Islamic State in Mozambique
Editor’s Note:
The Islamic State has suffered significant losses in recent years, but Mozambique far from the heartland of its former self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria is a rare bright spot for the group. Tore Hamming, of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College, details the group
’s successes in Mozambique and the problems the government there has had fighting the group.
Daniel Byman
Although the militant Islamist insurgency in Mozambique has been brewing since late 2017, it was only when Islamic State-affiliated militants captured the northeastern port city of Mocimboa da Praia in Cabo Delgado province in mid-August 2020 that it gained the world’s attention. After the group’s successive losses in the Levant, it came as a shock to analysts and policymakers that the Islamic State was once again capable of controlling territory jeopardizing the outlook for stability in Mozambique.