Mozambique: Residents of Cabo Delgado town fear approaching insurgents

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Mozambique: Residents of Cabo Delgado town fear approaching insurgents

6:33 CAT | 31 Mar 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The inhabitants of the town of Macomia, in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, have reported moments of fear in the village as alleged extremists approached, with many choosing not to leave their homes.

“They were very close to the village, we were suspicious because they seemed to be strange people and some were even ragged,” a local source from Macomia reported on Monday.

According to local reports, these strangers were spotted in the last few hours in the vicinity of the village by people returning from the agricultural fields.

The gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique, has been facing an armed rebellion since 2017, with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.

Due to fears about this approach to Macomia, the local celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Ramadan fast since Sunday, has been affected. Some people prefer to stay at home for fear of an attack on the town.

“Many didn’t stay in the mosques. There’s always fear when you talk about terrorists, nobody remembers them well,” explained another source.

The last major attack took place on 10 and 11 May 2024, precisely in the district headquarters of Macomia, with around a hundred insurgents looting the village, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and Rwandan soldiers, who are supporting Mozambique in the fight against the rebels.

In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in northern Mozambique, an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to a study released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution of the US government’s Department of Defence.

Source: Lusa