Mozambique: Farmers flee amid alleged terrorist activity in Nanpipi, Metuge district

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Mozambique: Farmers flee amid alleged terrorist activity in Nanpipi, Metuge district

12:45 CAT | 22 Oct 2025

Map: Google Earth

Farmers in the Nanpipi production area, in Metuge, Cabo Delgado, are abandoning their agricultural fields due to the constant movement of alleged terrorist groups, local sources told Lusa yesterday.

According to the farmers, the movements of these armed groups in the area, 60 kilometres from the headquarters of Metuge district, began at the end of September with the kidnapping of a woman, who later managed to escape.

“The situation is not good, the men are walking there in the bushes,” reported a community source, now in Metuge town after abandoning his agricultural field (machaba).

The situation mainly affects farmers from Metuge headquarters, Sauli, Nacuta, Walopwana, Ponto A and Matemo, who were working the land and opening new production fields but are now leaving due to fear of imminent attacks.

“These are people who were already opening new plots of land. But we are afraid of the terrorists, so we abandoned them,” another source reported.

Residents from the villages of Impiri, in Metuge, and Intutupue, in the district of Ancuabe, on Monday reported the passage of insurgent groups along National Road 1, heading north in the province.

“We did not sleep. The terrorists passed between Impiri and Intutupue,” said another source from Metuge.

The UN estimated today that at least 44 people died and another 208,000 were affected in August by attacks from extremist groups in Cabo Delgado, a province facing an armed insurgency for eight years.

According to a field report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), by August Mozambique had also reported a total of 111,393 displaced people, the majority from Cabo Delgado (109,118), although movements were also recorded in the provinces of Niassa and Nampula.

Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique and rich in gas, has been targeted by extremist attacks for eight years, with the first attack recorded on 5 October 2017, in the district of Mocímboa da Praia.

“Civilians continue to face serious security and protection risks, including abductions, looting and threats,” the report states, adding that these incidents in August “resulted in 44 deaths and 101 abducted, including six children and five women”.

Eight years after the first attack, the government stated this month that it continues to make efforts to ensure the safety of populations and property so that communities can remain securely in their places of origin.

Almost 93,000 people have fled Cabo Delgado and Nampula since the end of September due to the resurgence of attacks in northern Mozambique, doubling the number of displaced people in a few days, according to previous data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, on 6 October, described the attacks occurring in Cabo Delgado as “barbaric” and against “human dignity.”

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) has recorded 6,257 deaths in the eight years of attacks in Cabo Delgado, warning of ongoing instability.

Source: Lusa