Cabo Ligado Weekly: 22-28 May 2023

May 31

By the Numbers: Cabo Delgado, October 2017-May 2023 ¹

Figures updated as of 26 May 2023. Political violence includes Battles, Explosions/Remote violence, and Violence against civilians event types. Violence targeting civilians includes Explosions/Remote violence and Violence against civilians event types where civilians are targeted. Fatalities for the two categories thus overlap for certain events. ACLED is a living dataset and figures are subject to change as new information becomes available.

Total number of political violence events: 1,638
Total number of reported fatalities from political violence: 4,679
Total number of reported fatalities from political violence targeting civilians: 2,003

All ACLED data are available for download via the data export tool and curated data files.

Situation Summary

Large-scale insurgent movements were reported across Macomia district last week, while the return of fighters to Nangade district continues to cause alarm. On 24 May, the Mozambican police force’s Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) conducted an ambush near Ngangolo village, approximately 20 kilometers south of Nangade district headquarters, resulting in the deaths of five insurgents. However, two UIR members were also killed in the clash.

Two days later, President Filipe Nyusi announced the death of insurgent commander Issa Wachio. The Mozambican Center for Democracy and Development has previously identified Wachio as a commander in Nangade, and it is possible his killing is connected to the Ngangolo incident. Some local sources told Cabo Ligado they were skeptical of the suggestion that Wachio was a senior insurgent leader, though one acknowledged his role in Nangade, and said that he was likely the one killed.

Following the clash, community leaders in Nangade expressed concerns to a visiting Zambian brigadier from the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), insisting that SAMIM should remain until complete freedom of movement is restored in the district. The population of five villages in the district, which were recently resettled by displaced civilians, have relocated to Nangade town for fear of their safety. Although insurgents had previously left Nangade by the end of March, some fighters returned in mid-May and briefly captured 12 civilians in Nkonga village on 19 May.

Macomia also witnessed numerous violent events. On the night of 20 May, insurgents attacked the village of Nova Zambézia in the Chai administrative post of Macomia, where displaced civilians had recently returned. Armed fighters approached from the direction of Quinto Congresso, but Mozambican Defence and Security Forces (FDS) responded swiftly, forcing the attackers to retreat with no reported casualties on either side, a local source told Cabo Ligado. This was followed on 22 May by a clash in Chitoio, approximately 20 km to the north, which also saw no reported casualties.

A significant movement of insurgents was observed crossing the N380 road in Macomia from west to east on 24 May, involving bicycles and motorbikes, according to another local source. Two days later, the insurgents set up sentries about 1 km away from a campsite near the Likulede river, which branches off the Messalo, where locals found various items, including food and discarded shoes, the source said. This eastwards movement was confirmed by one other source. The likely destination is a relatively new encampment at Namurussia, which lies on the coastal side of the N380.

The presence of insurgents was also reported in the villages of Novo Cabo Delgado and Litandacua, and along the south bank of the Messalo River. On 29 May, Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack on FDS soldiers at what was presumably meant to be Litandacua – the place name was badly misspelled – the previous Friday. They claimed the killing of one soldier and the seizure of weapons. This has not yet been corroborated by other sources.

In other news, military escort services on the N380 highway between Macomia and Awasse, were briefly disrupted on 23 May in Macomia, allegedly due to lack of fuel. Vehicle traffic on the N380 had been previously suspended without explanation just three weeks earlier on 5 May.

In Silva Macua in Ancuabe district, an FDS soldier assaulted a pregnant woman on the street on the afternoon of 24 May, according to a local source. A picture purportedly of the victim, with blood splattered across her clothes, has circulated online. Another source told Cabo Ligado she was a displaced woman from Muidumbe district.

Weekly Focus: Uncertainty in Nangade and Macomia

Communities and security forces face some uncertainty in Nangade and Macomia districts. Renewed movement of insurgents in Nangade district has disturbed communities that had returned to their places of origin, and last week prompted a proactive response from the FDS. In Macomia, clashes between insurgents and the military indicate movement of both groups in the area, and will continue to hinder return to the north of the district.

The FDS ambush of insurgents on 24 May came in a week when residents expressed their fear of a return of the insurgents at a meeting with a visiting officer from SAMIM. Community leaders who met with him insisted that SAMIM should remain in Nangade until there has been return to all villages, and that free movement is established as it was pre-2017. The meeting was a significant one, bringing together the district administration, village leaders, Local Forces leaders, village committee elders, and SAMIM.

The community leaders' demands had been sparked by two things: the return of insurgents to the district; and concern that the end of SAMIM’s mandate, thought to be 15 July, would mean the withdrawal of troops. The meeting came the day after the 24 May ambush, and 10 days after 12 people who had recently returned to Nkonga were temporarily held by a small band of fighters. That incident had already disturbed recent returnees. By 19 May, people who had returned to Nkonga, Quinto Congresso, Lijungo, Chitama, and Machava villages had returned to Nangade town, according to a local source. The villages lie in the east of Nangade district, close to neighboring Mocímboa da Praia.

The situation for Macomia people, too, is uncertain. According to a local source, displaced people in Macomia town last month requested the district authorities to allow them to return to Chai, Litamanda, and Litandacua in the north of the district. Their request met with no objection, though the authorities advised against return to Nguida and Nkoe. By last week, any such return was highly unlikely, following the clashes last week at Nova Zambézia, 16 km south of Chai, and unconfirmed movements of insurgents across the north of the district. In coastal Macomia, the movement of insurgents in villages around Mucojo continues, as does the movement of newly arrived FDS patrols. Mediafax reports that some recent returnees have left the area, returning to Ibo in fear of both insurgents, and potential backlash from the FDS, who has recently deployed to the area but is not taking direct action against the insurgents. Others remain, local sources say, not in fear, but unsure of whether this situation can last.

Weekly Round-Up

CIP investigates abuse of displaced women and girls

A new report by the Mozambican Center of Public Integrity (CIP) has revealed the extent of the sexual exploitation of displaced women in Cabo Delgado. The government has neglected its responsibility to protect and support the displaced, CIP argues, leaving it to humanitarian organizations and local leaders. Based on interviews with affected individuals, CIP finds that many women and young girls have been forced to sell sex to provide subsistence for themselves and their families. Coordinated actions are needed between the government, humanitarian organizations, and partners to improve support for displaced women and girls. This should include providing financing support, hygiene products, and sexual health education, according to the report.

OMR criticizes Rufin’s report

Jean-Christophe Rufin’s assessment of the humanitarian and human rights situation in Cabo Delgado, commissioned by TotalEnergies, fails to identify the roots of the region’s problems, argues João Feijó in a new report for the Rural Environment Observatory (OMR). Its main flaw, according to Feijó, is that it does not adequately examine the role of the Mozambique liquefied natural gas project, which TotalEnergies leads, in exacerbating a sense of social exclusion in the province. The proposed 200 million US dollars foundation to promote regional development will have only “palliative effects” as it is insufficient to address the scale of poverty and inequality in Cabo Delgado, which, in any case, should be the responsibility of the state, according to the report.

IESE publishes biography of insurgent leader

Sergio Chichava of the Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IESE) has published the most recent of his short biographies of insurgency leaders. It focuses on Muamudo Saha, originally from Rueia village in Mucojo, Macomia district. Like other leaders featured in the series, he was involved in small-scale trade, which took him around northern Mozambique, if not abroad.

Chichava describes a similar activism undertaken by Saha within the Muslim community as highlighted in his other biographies of ‘Jorginho’ and Maulana Ali Cassimo. He also describes the failure of authorities to stem the growth of such activism prior to the insurgency, as also outlined in a research note from 2020. Chichava details how this led to Saha’s expulsion from a mosque in Macomia town, and his later arrest in 2017 for calling for non-participation in the census. Soon released on the grounds of freedom of religious belief, he left for Mocímboa da Praia, where he is believed to have participated in the October 2017 attack that sparked the conflict.

Saha’s current whereabouts are not certain. Chichava notes that Carta recently reported him as alive and active in Mucojo, but that other sources claim he may be elsewhere, or even deceased.

Peacemaking Advisory Group pushes mediated peace in Cabo Delgado

Africa Intelligence has reported that retired Dutch and European Union diplomat Roeland van de Geer recently visited Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania as part of the Peacemaking Advisory Group. The group seeks to catalyze dialogue between stakeholders in Cabo Delgado, and Mozambique more broadly, and published a report on initial consultations in February.

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