Mozambique: Prospects for religious freedom in country ‘disastrous’ – foundation

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Mozambique: Prospects for religious freedom in country ‘disastrous’ – foundation

10:37 CAT | 23 Jun 2023

Image: ACN

The new report on religious freedom by the foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) considers the prospects for Mozambique “disastrous” due to armed violence in Cabo Delgado.

“The outlook for religious freedom continues to be disastrous,” reads the chapter dedicated to Mozambique, the only Portuguese-speaking country noted on the map of violations to the free activity of religions in the 2023 report.

“Despite the reduced capacity of the Islamic State-Mozambique to carry out major attacks,” the extremist group “remains operational and continues its deadly attacks,” which makes religious freedom “seriously threatened due to permanent insecurity.”

Christians and Muslims are targeted, the report notes.

The Catholic organisation ACN foundation also points out as a “cause for concern” the “risk of extension of the Islamic State-Mozambique to neighbouring countries, notably Tanzania”.

“Although Christian and Muslim leaders continue to denounce violence and promote inter-religious dialogue,” the report considers that this “will be insufficient if the underlying social and economic inequalities affecting young people, especially in the poorest regions, are not addressed.”

“This is especially true in the northern provinces, where international companies extract enormous resource wealth with minimal benefit to the local economy and populations, fostering a vicious cycle of poverty, frustration and violence,” it concludes.

In the executive summary, at the global level, Mozambique’s situation is framed in a paragraph entitled “rise of opportunistic caliphates”.

“Gradually, they have shifted from the conquest and defence of fixed territories to ‘touch and run’ attacks aimed at creating isolated communities in poorly defended rural areas,” the document describes.

“Islamist violence is present throughout Africa, but the main theatres of ‘jihadist’ activity are concentrated in the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin, Somalia and Mozambique,” it adds.

Cabo Delgado province has faced an armed insurgency for five years with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.

The conflict has left one million people displaced, according to the United Nations, and about 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.