‘Cabo Delgado town under attack’
MOZAMBIQUE’S army is fighting Islamist insurgents who launched a major attack on the northern town of Macomia on Friday, President Filipe Nyusi said in a televised address.
The town is in Cabo Delgado, the gas-rich northern province where the Islamic State-linked militants launched an insurgency in 2017.
Despite a large security response, there has been a surge in attacks since January this year.
Two security sources told Reuters that hundreds of fighters were believed to be involved in the latest attack.
“Macomia is under attack since this morning. (Gun) Fire exchange still continues,” Nyusi said at about 10am on Friday, adding that the militants initially withdrew after about 45 minutes of fighting, but then regrouped and came back.
Mozambican troops put up “strong resistance”, forcing them to withdraw after 45 minutes of fighting.
The jihadists however reorganised and “came back”, he said.
The attack appeared to be the most serious militant attack in the area in
some time.
A regional force from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which deployed in Mozambique in 2021, started withdrawing last month as its mandate ends in July.
Piers Pigou, head of the Southern Africa Programme at the Institute for
Security Studies, told Reuters the attack on the Macomia district headquarters validated concerns over a security vacuum opening up with the drawdown of the southern African troops.
“Claims that the province has been for the most part stabilised are evidently not accurate,” he said.
Nyusi said that attacks could take place in such periods of transition, and that he hoped the SADC forces would be able to step in and help.
It was unclear if SADC were still deployed in the area or involved in the fight.
Forces from Rwanda and countries of the SADC deployed to Mozambique in July 2021 after an attack on the city of Palma.
They have helped the government regain control over much of the region.
But this year has seen an uptick in violence.
Figures released by the International Organization for Migration in March show over 110 000 people displaced since the end of last year, amid escalating violence in the province.
The offensive comes as French oil
company, Totalenergies, is seeking to restart a $20 billion liquified natural gas terminal in Cabo Delgado that was halted in 2021 due to the insurgency.
That project is some 200km north of Macomia, the town under attack.
Exxonmobil, with partner Eni, is also developing an LNG project in northern Mozambique and said last week that it was “optimistic and pushing forward” as the security situation had improved.
Mozambique has set high hopes on
vast gas deposits – the largest found south of the Sahara – that were discovered in Cabo Delgado in 2010.
If all are tapped, Mozambique could become one of the world’s 10 biggest gas exporters, according to estimates.
But an insurgency waged by militants linked to the Islamic State group since 2017 has stalled progress.
More than 5000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes. |