Cabo Ligado Weekly: 28 June-4 July

July 6, 2021 Cabo Ligado

Total number of organized violence events: 912
Total number of reported fatalities from organized violence: 3,084
Total number of reported fatalities from civilian targeting: 1,448

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

Situation Summary

Violence broke out in three corners of the Cabo Delgado conflict zone last Friday, with insurgents launching small-scale attacks. In Muidumbe district, a group of about 10 insurgents attacked the village of Namande in the early afternoon of 2 July. They arrived wearing Mozambican security force uniforms, but quickly opened fire on civilians and local militias. By the time the attack was over and insurgents had withdrawn, seven civilians and three militia members lay dead. Insurgents also burned several homes in the attack.

The Namande attack created particular concern on two fronts. The first arose from the fact that Namande is close to the border of Mueda district, and only 25 kilometers from Mueda town. Civilians in Mueda grew worried on Friday that the Namande attack signalled a larger insurgent offensive on Mueda. No such attacks have taken place, however. The other, more immediate concern is that Namande was one of the three villages in western Muidumbe district where civilians had begun to return after being displaced to Mueda. The other two -- Miteda and Lutete -- are both closer to Mueda town than Namande, but the apparent impunity with which insurgents were able to carry out the Namande attack may force returned civilians to flee once more.

Further east, a clash was reported between insurgents and government forces at Diaca, Mocimboa da Praia district. Insurgents reportedly initiated the attack, but were turned back by government troops. Diaca is a strategically important town on the road between Mueda and Mocimboa da Praia town.

Southeast of Diaca, off the coast of Macomia district, fishermen working around Ilha Quifula and Ilha Magundula reported being held up by insurgents who stole their catch. No injuries were reported. The incidents happened just off the coast at Pangane, which Mozambique’s police chief and the governor of Cabo Delgado promised was safe just two weeks ago. After being held up, the men made their way to Ilha Matemo, where civilians evacuated their villages and slept in the bush the night of 2 July for fear of an impending insurgent attack.

Reports of the fallout from the struggle for Palma district came in last week as well. Among civilians, hundreds who were threatened by recent insurgent attacks on villages just south of Palma have made the dangerous overland trip to Nangade district. According to Nangade residents, many displaced civilians are arriving in the district having not eaten anything during their journey.

Yet, on the military side, the government claimed a major success in defending the villages around Palma. Acting commander of the Afungi theater Francisco Assane told reporters last week that between 21 and 29 June, government forces had killed roughly 150 insurgents in clashes around Palma. He also said his troops had captured 39 insurgents at Monjane, due south of Quitunda, on 27 June. Army commander Cristóvão Chume echoed Assane and claimed that his troops had rescued over 100 civilians being held by insurgents in southeastern Palma district during the last round of fighting.

Incident Focus: Government Account of Women in the Insurgency

Among those the government claimed to have captured at Monjane is a woman who, according to Colonel Assane, served as a porter and spy for the insurgency. Assane told reporters that the woman had been brought into the insurgency through a combination of threats and financial inducements, with insurgents offering her money in exchange for information and threatening to kill her if she defected to the government side. She had threatened to defect despite the threats, and been attacked with a knife as punishment. She reported on the movement of government troops from Quitunda, and was paid 200 MZN ($3.15) for each report. The payments were coordinated by a man who lived in Monjane -- it is unclear if he was also captured.

Assane and General Chume both expressed concern last week at the role women are playing in the insurgency, using the woman’s story as an illustrative example. They did not highlight the prospect of women fighters, but instead pointed to the role women can play as connectors between insurgents and civilian populations. Assane noted in particular that women can transport weapons covertly for insurgents, although he did not offer any examples of that taking place in Cabo Delgado.

The account Assane made of the woman’s story is notable for the details it provides of the insurgency’s process for enlisting civilian assistance (or at least the government’s understanding of that process). It is also a marker of the government’s increased interest in women in the conflict. Previous government messaging about the insurgency has focused almost exclusively on young men who are presumed to make up the bulk of both the insurgent fighting force and the insurgency’s recruitment targets. On one hand, increased attention towards women as combatants likely reflects the reality on the ground. There has long been speculation among frontline civilians that women served in exactly the dual role Assane described, working as vital connectors between insurgent and civilian groups. Indeed, a recent report from the Rural Environment Observatory quotes Mocimboa da Praia residents telling of women involved in the insurgency “in logistical… support, hiding military equipment or young rebels, or as spies and observers of the movements of the Mozambican army.” On the other hand, however, given Mozambican security forces’ history of mistreating women they accuse of collaborating with the insurgency, expanding suspicion may serve both civilians and the government ill in the long run.

Government Response

There was positive news on the humanitarian front last week, as the European Union announced a Humanitarian Air Bridge to bring supplies to Cabo Delgado. The operation consists of three flights from Italy to Pemba, the first of which landed 3 July. The flights will transport 15 tons of supplies, including equipment for humanitarian response and emergency kits for displaced civilians.

Yet concerns about on the ground aid delivery continue. The Catholic bishop of Pemba, António Juliasse, last week accused authorities in Cabo Delgado of diverting money intended for humanitarian support and development projects for personal gain. Juliasse declined to name names, but said that too much money meant for the needy of Cabo Delgado is being spent on “big cars, big salaries, big lodgings, big seminars, luxury." His criticisms, which burnish the Church’s reputation as an independent voice in Cabo Delgado, appear to take aim at the aid industry as it becomes more established in the province.

Yet many segments of the aid delivery process are not well established. Displaced civilians landing on Paquitequete beach in Pemba report being detained on the beach for hours -- sometimes overnight -- as government forces conduct security checks. They are confined to a tent on the beach that is inadequate to protect them from the winter elements, and they often cannot access medical treatment. Among those left on the beach without treatment are people suffering from malaria, people who have recently given birth, and people suffering from mental illness. As of 6 July, no government medical team had been on the beach in days.

The march toward foreign military intervention in Cabo Delgado also continued last week. On 30 June, 27 EU member states endorsed in principle an EU military training mission in Mozambique. The plan they approved would send trainers and “non-lethal equipment” to Mozambique for a 28-month mission to improve the Mozambican military’s capacity to fight in Cabo Delgado. Portuguese army general Nuno Lemos Pires, who currently serves as defense policy deputy director at the Portuguese defense ministry and has written books on the Islamic State and counterinsurgency strategy, is expected to lead the mission. Final approval for the mission will be taken up on 12 July at a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council.

No new details have emerged about the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) planned intervention in Cabo Delgado, but Zimbabwean media reports that the Kwekwe-based 5 Brigade is preparing to deploy to Mozambique. 5 Brigade is Zimbabwe’s standby force, and so would be the first Zimbabwean troops to deploy in any intervention in which Zimbabwe is involved. Yet the report -- which could not be corroborated by Cabo Ligado sources -- offers no indication of the timetable for the SADC intervention. The regional body still needs to raise the funds for the mission, as well as decide on its structure and public mandate.