Mozambique: Cabo Delgado is experiencing ‘petrojihadism’ fuelled by economic interests – philosopher

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Mozambique: Cabo Delgado is experiencing ‘petrojihadism’ fuelled by economic interests – philosopher

9:27 CAT | 23 Feb 2024

Screen grab: TVM

Mozambican philosopher Severino Ngoenha on Thursday argued that the armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado results from the dissolution of national unity, and that economic interests in the gas-rich province have created a conflict rooted in the idea of social injustice.

“This [the economic interest linked to mineral resources] gives rise to the idea, in Cabo Delgado, that [the] oil and gas belong specifically to the north, and that people from the south go there to steal what belongs to those from the north,” the Mozambican philosopher said during a conversation session promoted by Moza Banco to debate the “Nation and Mozambicanity”.

For Ngoenha, Cabo Delgado province is experiencing ‘petrojihadism’, where the economic interests of “powers” (multinationals) provoke conflicts fuelled by the idea of social injustice.

The first consequence of this scenario, continued the author of the work “From Independences to Freedoms”, is the dissolution of national unity and Mozambicanity, the foundations of the “First Republic”.

The philosopher warned of the “fragmentation of Mozambicanity”.

“The presence of those who have desires (…), using strategies and tactics that divide us internally, means that today, if we went from Rovuma to Maputo asking young people if they want to be Mozambicans (…) many of them would say no,” the rector of the Technical University of Mozambique added.

“This does not mean that we are able to give everything to everyone in the same way (…) It is not possible to do this overnight, but it is necessary to give people reason to think that the main objective of our journey going forward is a collective objective and not an individual or group objective,” Ngoenha stressed.

Mozambican writer Paulina Chiziane also declared that the conflict in Cabo Delgado was not specifically based on religion, warning of the social impact of the war.

“Look at what is happening today in the name of some God. Our people are succumbing out there. These are wars that claim to be religious, but have nothing to do with religion,” the 2021 Camões Prize declared.

Chiziane warned of the consequences of religious fundamentalism, adding that the drama experienced in northern Mozambique could occur anywhere in the country.

“From the Zambezi River to here [south], things are apparently calm, but in fact they are not. On every corner we have a church. What does the church say? Each of them with an ideology stranger than the next. Don’t you think this is abnormal?” the writer asked.

The gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing attacks claimed by the self-styled Islamic State for six years, which has led to a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), freeing districts near natural gas projects in the province.

In recent weeks, cases of attacks by insurgent groups have been reported in several villages and roads in Cabo Delgado, including attacks on vehicles, kidnapping of drivers and demands for money for the population to travel on some roads, which is causing new waves of displacement.

Source: Lusa