Cabo Ligado Update: 7 - 20 April 2025

Apr 23

Written By Cabo Ligado

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By the numbers

Data highlights in Cabo Delgado province (7 - 20 April 2025)

At least 7 political violence events (2,068 in total since 1 October 2017)
At least 2 reported fatalities from political violence (5,984 since 1 October 2017)
At least 1 reported civilian fatality (2,502 since 1 October 2017)

Islamic State Mozambique (ISM) remained active from Ancuabe district in the south of Cabo Delgado province to Nangade district in the north. In Nampula province, the circumstances surrounding the police killing of at least five Naparama in Malema district remain unclear, and the motivations of the Naparama youth there remain in question. Alongside this, self-styled Naparama groups were active in supporting community grievances at a mine site in Balama district, and supporting a Rwandan response to an ISM roadblock in Ancuabe district. President Daniel Chapo’s presentation of Defense and Security Forces’ (FDS) problems at the swearing-in of the new armed forces chief indicated that the state is not well positioned to respond to northern Mozambique’s increasingly fragmented violence.

Situation Summary

Police kill at least five Naparama in Nampula province

In Nampula province’s Malema district, security forces killed at least five self-styled Naparama militiamen on 17 April during an alleged attempted assault on a Defense and Security Forces (FDS) camp in the town of Mutuali. According to the police, the group — armed with machetes, sledgehammers, and other blunt instruments — tried to overrun the position before being repelled by the FDS. Six suspects were arrested, and authorities say investigations are underway to identify additional members. Defense minister Cristóvão Chume dismissed those killed as “criminals,” saying the real Naparama are on the side of the FDS. He also ruled out any link between the Naparama and the insurgents.

However, some dispute the security forces' narrative. Dom Inácio Saúre, archbishop of Nampula, condemned the killings as a “massacre” and noted that local sources said that up to 21 may have been killed. He said a local priest had witnessed the killings and he now worries for the priest’s safety. He added that the situation remained tense, there was effectively no government in the administrative post, and that the disorder was partly political, but also driven by criminal opportunism.

On 16 April, in the Balama district of Cabo Delgado province, Naparama joined local communities to block the reopening of the Syrah Resources-owned Twigg graphite mine, O País reported. Residents of Balama town accuse the company of failing to pay fair compensation to families resettled away from the mine site and of unjust worker dismissals. Despite a third round of negotiations led by Cabo Delgado Governor Valige Tauabo, the deadlock remains. The Balama mine has been shuttered for seven months, when affected communities erected barricades around the site. These grievances are long-standing and were expressed in a strike at the mine in September 2022.

The varying actions and range of locations of groups using the Naparam identity raise questions about the use of the term. These groups are not operating in concert, or with any element of central control, unlike the original Naparama that emerged during the civil war. The Naparama identity may allow groups of alienated young men to claim legitimacy, but may also cloud understanding of the contemporary phenomenon. In the case of the killing in Mutuali, the police’s use of the term “Naparama” to describe those they killed reflects neither the position of Minister Chume, nor the analysis of Archbishop Saúre. The statements of both figures reflect the ambiguous identity of the contemporary Naparama.

Insurgent roadblocks expand to the N14 highway

Insurgent violence continued to flare in Ancuabe district. On 12 April, armed insurgents blocked the N14 highway between Nanjua and Muaja — an essential road that connects the mining concessions in Montepuez district to the port of Pemba. Two trucks were burned, and passengers — including two Chinese nationals — were taken hostage, with ransom demands ranging from 10,000 to 200,000 meticais, according to local sources. Two of the Chinese hostages were released, a source said, but the fate of the other two is unclear. The roadblocks on the N14 come soon after similar actions by ISM in Macomia district in the last week of March.

The road was reopened by the morning of 13 April after the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and a Naparama militia mobilized to secure the area. Both Rwandan forces and Mozambican Armed Defence Forces (FADM) have bases on either side of the N14, near the village of Macarara, approximately 25 kilometers west of the road block.

On 13 April, insurgents attacked and burned the village of Ncole before doing the same to the village of Ngura the next day. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for both incidents, saying it wounded several members of the “Mozambican militia,” set fire to two churches and “dozens” of homes in Ncole, and burned another 60 houses in Ngura.

Mocímboa da Praia, Macomia, and Nangade still face insurgent violence

Meanwhile, an insurgent presence persists in the districts of Mocímboa da Praia and Macomia. On 7 April, a primary school teacher was killed in an attack on the village of Ntotwe, less than 20 km from Mocímboa da Praia town, where the RDF mission in Mozambique is headquartered.

On 9 April, insurgents ambushed a FADM patrol on the road to the village of Cobre on the Macomia coast. IS claimed several soldiers were wounded in the clash, which was corroborated by a local source.

In northern Cabo Delgado, 14 April also saw insurgents attack a village in Nangade district for the first time since December last year. They stole food and forced several civilians to carry the loot into the bush. Insurgents were seen moving again on 16 April around the nearby village of Lijungo.

Focus: President Chapo tasks General Jane with wholesale reform of the security sector

President Daniel Chapo appointed General Julio dos Santos Jane as the new chief of general staff of FADM on 10 March. General Jane replaces Admiral Joaquim Mangrasse, who was appointed in March 2021. Admiral Mangrasses’s tenure cemented FADM as the lead force in Mozambican counterinsurgency efforts in northern Mozambique, which until January 2021 had been led by the police force. President Chapo’s speech at General Jane’s swearing-in ceremony the following day laid out quite clearly that, in current circumstances, FADM and other branches of the FDS are not fit for purpose.

President Chapo spoke of some officers being promoted despite lacking relevant skills or not having received proper training. Some, described by President Chapo as having “costas quentes,” or a warm back — a term suggesting some privileged protection — are on office duty and never assigned to frontline positions, while others are just unfit and should be retired. He also spoke of soldiers being on the payroll, but never on duty, commonly known as “ghost soldiers,” but also of weaknesses in recruitment that allow “enemies of the Mozambican people” to be recruited. He called for action on all the issues he identified, but they are not new. In 2022, at least 7,000 “ghost soldiers” were uncovered. According to Carta newspaper at the time, many were the children of civil war veterans, senior officers, and politicians.

The most worrying issue raised by President Chapo is the willingness of some members of the FDS to “sell out their homeland” and leak details of operations, leading to their subsequent failure. Such corruption in the FDS has long been rumored, particularly given the ease with which ISM has at times overrun FDS positions. However, this is the first time that it has been admitted at the highest level. Rwandan forces will no doubt have been long aware of the risk of operational details leaking, a factor that may help explain their unwillingness to engage with ISM directly or undertake joint operations with FADM.

General Jane has in the past headed up both the police and the intelligence services and led the garrison that protected Maputo during the civil war. It is not clear how he can address the issues raised by President Chapo, having been shaped by the very system he has been tasked with reforming.

Roundup

Tanzania defense minister on high-level visit to Maputo

Stergomena Tax, Tanzania’s defense minister, visited Maputo on 10 April, meeting with both President Daniel Chapo and her counterpart, Cristóvão Chume. Tax was representing Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Tanzania People’s Defence Force troops have been in Nangade district since October 2022 under a bilateral agreement signed in September that year. Statements about her visit by both the Mozambique presidency and Tanzania’s defense ministry do not indicate that there will be any change to this deployment. On the same day, Mozambique’s Interior Minister Paulo Chachine, reiterated in parliament that the Tanzanian and Rwandan troops, and previously SADC troops, are in the country legally.

Mozambique’s Major-General Nampele briefed by Rwandan forces in Macomia

Major General Tiago Alberto Nampele, commander of FADM’s army branch, visited the Rwandan forces’ base at Macomia on 20 April. According to the Rwanda Defence Force, he was briefed on the security situation in southern Cabo Delgado. FADM has a base close to the Rwandan base in Ancuabe, from which Rwandan forces responded to the ISM roadblock on 12 April.

Gemfields blames civil unrest for poor performance

Gemstone miner Gemfields reported a loss of over 100 million US dollars for 2024, compared to just $2.8 million in 2023, blaming post-election unrest in Mozambique and weak global demand for rubies. Operations at its Montepuez ruby mine in Cabo Delgado were repeatedly disrupted by protests, incursions, and security incidents, including clashes with informal miners, Gemfields said in a statement, highlighting an incident in December last year when protesters tried to invade the mine site, forcing the company to briefly evacuate staff. The post-election unrest has also led to the suspension of Gemfields’ gold exploration project at Nairoto, also in Montepuez district.

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