Mozambique: Cabo Delgado ’emblematic of Daesh’s influence in Africa’ – UN

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Mozambique: Cabo Delgado ’emblematic of Daesh’s influence in Africa’ – UN

9:49 CAT | 20 Aug 2021

Photo: Twitter / @UNMediaLiaison

Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province has become “emblematic of Daesh’s influence in Africa” and requires priority in the regional counter-terrorism approach, the United Nations Secretary-General considers in a report under consultation in the Security Council on Thursday.

“This followed the brief occupation of Palma by an affiliated group near a large gas project led by a multinational company in northern Mozambique,” the report on Islamic State (IS) activities reads.

The document adds that “the local authorities failed to defend the town and provide security, as was also the case in Mocímboa da Praia, further south in Cabo Delgado, which has been occupied by Daesh affiliates since August 2020.”

The report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was completed on 27 July and was presented at the Security Council on Thursday by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, Vladimir Voronkov.

Unseccl.tt_ — *Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office, Vladimir Voronkov.*

According to António Guterres, developments in Mozambique may have “far-reaching” consequences on regional peace and security and must be “addressed through a coherent regional approach as a matter of priority”.

For the UN, which had several entities involved in the authorship of this semi-annual report on IS activities, the deterioration of the security situation in Cabo Delgado province was “one of the most worrying events of early 2021”.

“The local Daesh affiliate group [Al-Shabab] briefly invaded and detained a strategic port near the border with Tanzania, before withdrawing with spoils”.

The UN states that Cabo Delgado province, being a “destination for economic migrants” and an entry point for drugs from Asia, in a region that “hosts numerous trafficking activities”, is an “easy transit area for Daesh fighters”.

“As in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Mozambican branch of Daesh benefits from the shadow economy. Members live clandestinely and extort local populations,” the report notes.

The secretary-general added that the Mozambican islands of Matemo, Vamizi and Makalowe were the stage for the demonstration of IS’s “skills to operate at sea”, with kidnappings, abductions and extortion attacks.

The report indicates that “the Islamic State threat has further expanded in Africa through the group’s regional affiliates, while the core of Daesh has remained focused on regrouping in Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic.”

“Mali’s spillovers into Burkina Faso and Niger, Nigeria’s incursions into Niger, Chad and Cameroon and Mozambique’s into Tanzania are all very worrying”.

“The autonomy delegated by the Daesh core, the large number of small operational cells and the absence of meaningful counterterrorism measures have turned regional affiliates into a major threat with the potential to develop further, possibly towards neighbouring countries,” the report concludes.

Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, has been the scene of attacks by armed groups since 2017, described by several governments and international entities as “terrorist”.

The coastal town of Mocímboa da Praia, one of the main towns in the north of Cabo Delgado province, was the region where the armed groups carried out their first attack in October 2017.

Mocímboa da Praia is located 70 kilometres south of the construction area of the natural gas exploration project led by several international oil companies and led by Total.

Armed attacks by insurgent groups in districts of northern Cabo Delgado have caused more than 3,100 deaths, according to the conflict registration project ACLED, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

You may read / download the full text of the “Thirteenth report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by ISIL (Da’esh) to international peace and security and the range of United Nations efforts in support of Member States in countering the threat” HERE

NOW: #UNSC briefing on Threats to int’l #peaceandsecurity caused by terrorist acts, with @UN_OCT USG Voronkov & @UN_CTED Exec. Dir. Coninsx
➡️ UNSG’s 13th strategic-level report on threat posed by ISIL(Da’esh) https://t.co/GsgBvAwzwC
📺 https://t.co/EmvU2aSAFO @IndiaUNNewYork pic.twitter.com/baJDAqh2pc

— UN Media Liaison (@UNMediaLiaison) August 19, 2021