Mozambique: President warns that terrorism in Cabo Delgado not yet over

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: President warns that terrorism in Cabo Delgado not yet over

1:48 CAT | 17 Nov 2025

Screengrab: TVM

Mozambique’s President Daniel Chapo said on Monday that terrorism is not over in the country, but stressed that the efforts of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS), sometimes with limited means, have allowed for “relative stability”.

“So that there is no misunderstanding, we want to clarify that we are not saying that there is no more terrorism in Cabo Delgado. No. We are simply saying that our Armed Forces, the FDS as a whole, are on the ground defending their people from these sporadic attacks that are still happening in Cabo Delgado province and which are causing the displacement of our population,” said the head of state.

Daniel Chapo conveyed the position at the closing of the 2025 academic year courses at ISEDEF – Instituto Superior de Estudos de Defesa Tenente-General Armando Emílio Guebuza, in Maputo, stressing that the current “relative stability”, which “means that the towns are free, but there are still attacks in villages around those roads”, is the result of the “courage and bravery of the young heroes of the FDS”.

The FDS “fight tenaciously and victoriously against the enemies of the Mozambican people, sometimes without many means and resources”, Daniel Chapo recognised, while also admitting that Cabo Delgado “still faces some outbreaks of terrorism”.

“This worries us a lot. Despite these outbreaks in some districts, mainly in the northern part of Cabo Delgado province, in recent times we have received reports of sporadic attacks and displacement of our populations,” he said at the ceremony.

He added that “this relative improvement in the environment”, compared to when several villages in the province “were completely occupied and now they are not”, had contributed to TotalEnergies lifting the “force majeure” clause, “paving the way for the resumption of the natural gas project”.

In the same speech, Chapo assumed that “in recent times,” Mozambique “has been faced with challenges that jeopardise public order and security and threaten the sovereignty of the state”, as well as its “independence and territorial integrity”.

“From subversion to violent, illegal and criminal demonstrations, with terrorism being the most visible face of the last eight years. This is where we want to call ISEDEF to account for its mission as an institution that must advise and support the government through studies, research and specialised training in the formulation of national strategic thinking with a view to defending our beloved homeland, Mozambique,” he said.

Chapo challenged ISEDEF “to continue reinventing itself in the search for answers to these challenges” that are “shaking” Mozambique: “One of the answers is to train and place on the market staff with skills and competences capable of realising in advance, facing and defeating any kind of threat, with the ultimate aim of improving our country’s security landscape.”

He therefore stressed that “proactivity must be the watchword” at the institution, which “cannot wait for higher orders to carry out studies on certain matters of interest to the defence” of the state.

“And aware that terrorists are frequently perfecting and changing their “modus operandi”, we want to guide ISEDEF to do everything it can always to be one step ahead of the enemies of our people. We must constantly study and monitor the terrorists’ tricks to advise the defence and security forces on the best strategies and tactics to combat this evil in the Northern Operational Theatre,” Chapo appealed.

A survey by the ACLED organisation, reported by Lusa, estimates that Cabo Delgado recorded 11 violent events between 27 October and 9 November, essentially involving extremists linked to the Islamic State, causing 10 civilian deaths.

The latest report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) organisation states that of the 2,251 violent events recorded since October 2017, when the armed insurgency began in Cabo Delgado, a total of 2,077 involved fighters associated with Islamic State Mozambique (ISM).

Source: Lusa