{"id":2775,"date":"2022-06-01T14:58:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T12:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org\/news\/?p=2775"},"modified":"2022-06-01T14:58:19","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T12:58:19","slug":"faltering-insurgency-in-mozambique-still-threatens-lives-and-gas-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/faltering-insurgency-in-mozambique-still-threatens-lives-and-gas-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Faltering insurgency in Mozambique still threatens lives \u2013 and gas projects"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

190130-N-RG482-0374
PEMBA, Mozambique (Jan. 30, 2019) Military members assigned to the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces enter a building while participating in room clearing and close-quarters combat training during exercise Cutlass Express 2019 in Pemba, Mozambique, Jan. 30, 2019. Cutlass Express is designed to improve regional cooperation, maritime domain awareness and information sharing practices to increase capabilities between the U.S., East African and Western Indian Ocean nations to counter illicit maritime activity. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Kyle Steckler\/Released)<\/p><\/div>\n

Analisys<\/p>\n

Luis Nhachote<\/p>\n

Attacks have resumed in Mozambique\u2019s north-east<\/span>, after a lull in April. These include in the district of Palma \u2014 home to the liquefied natural gas projects that carry the hope of transforming Mozambique\u2019s economy (if they go ahead, and if the money is not stolen by elites).<\/p>\n

Insurgents raided the village of Olumbe, 20km down the coast from the gas project site on the Afungi Peninsula. But the raid, although backed by the threat of violence, was not a murderous one. Instead, the insurgents \u2014 along with women and children hostages who accompanied them \u2014 had arrived to take food.<\/p>\n

A source said that the unrest in Olumbe began in the late afternoon of 6 May, when militants \u201caccompanied by women and children fired several shots into the air\u201d, forcing the local population, which had recently returned to the village, to flee again. \u201cThe people who had returned and had started their lives over, were left with nothing again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident is not a positive sign for the insurgency, which seems to be struggling this year during the lean months that follow the rainy season.<\/p>\n

In addition to the raids to steal food, there are also increasing numbers of reports of hostages being released \u2014 fewer mouths to feed \u2014 and even of fighters surrendering en masse, unable to tolerate the privations of life in the bush.<\/p>\n

But an attack in the district of Palma is a setback for any hopes that French oil company\u00a0TotalEnergies<\/span>\u00a0will restart work on the Mozambique gas project this year \u2014 or that ExxonMobil will take a final investment decision on the even bigger project it plans to build next door.<\/p>\n

Any such decision will only come after TotalEnergies returns,\u00a0Exxon<\/span>\u00a0and its partners have made clear. Speaking in France last month, TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne reiterated that work will not restart until he can safely visit not only the project site but also the towns of Palma and Moc\u00edmboa da Praia.<\/p>\n

Moreover, he said, \u201cwe don\u2019t want to restart our activity surrounded by refugee camps\u201d. The raid on Olumbe notwithstanding, the key districts of Palma and Moc\u00edmboa da Praia have been largely peaceful since the arrival of Rwandan troops in 2021. But to achieve the \u201csustainable security\u201d that Pouyanne wants, Cabo Delgado needs more than just regular patrols by the Rwanda Defence Force.<\/p>\n

Attempts to ramp up security are generating controversy. The Centre for Public Integrity, a Mozambican think-tank, last week issued a report accusing the government\u2019s Cabo Delgado Reconstruction Plan of favouring Palma and Moc\u00edmboa da Praia, the two districts vital to the gas projects, over the rest of the conflict-hit region.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalma and Mocimboa<\/span>\u00a0are key districts and economically important,\u201d points out Tom\u00e1s Queface, a Mozambican analyst on the Cabo Ligado project that monitors the conflict in northern Mozambique.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoc\u00edmboa and Palma had more infrastructure destroyed than districts such as Nangade and Quissanga,\u201d he says, pointing to Moc\u00edmboa\u2019s port and aerodromes in Moc\u00edmboa and Palma as examples.<\/p>\n

Either way, the reconstruction plan is only a partial solution. A more holistic response has been drawn up by the Mozambican government with the support of the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.<\/p>\n

But its plan hasn\u2019t yet been approved by Mozambique\u2019s Council of Ministers. Some from the conservative wing of Mozambique\u2019s ruling party, Frelimo, apparently find the plan\u2019s conclusions on the causes of the insurgency unpalatable. At issue is the idea that Frelimo, which has ruled the country since independence in 1975, shares the blame for the discontent that fuelled the insurgency.<\/p>\n

The strategy paper has a section on \u201cthe endogenous factors of the conflict\u201d, which include \u201csocioeconomic asymmetries, the frustration of social expectations related to the exploitation of natural resources\u201d. It notes that \u201cthe youth, in particular, feel in a constant state of waiting\u201d and that they are excluded from decision-making. That contradicts the official government narrative that the insurgency is a foreign import.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in\u00a0The Continent<\/i><\/a>, the pan-African weekly newspaper produced in partnership with the\u00a0Mail & Guardian<\/i>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Analisys Luis Nhachote Attacks have resumed in Mozambique\u2019s north-east, after a lull in April. These include in the district of Palma \u2014 home to the liquefied natural gas projects that carry the hope of transforming Mozambique\u2019s economy (if they go ahead, and if the money is not stolen by elites). Insurgents raided the village of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[284],"tags":[266],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1686,1240,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1686,1240,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1686,1240,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-250x184.jpg",150,110,true],"medium":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-400x294.jpg",300,221,true],"large":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-650x478.jpg",650,478,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1536,1130,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1686,1240,false],"trp-custom-language-flag":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",16,12,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-150x110.jpg",150,110,true],"retina2x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-800x588.jpg",800,588,true],"retina3x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-1200x883.jpg",1200,883,true],"retina4x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac-1600x1177.jpg",1600,1177,true],"retina5x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1686,1240,false],"retina6x":["https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mozambique-defence-armed-forces-ac.jpg",1686,1240,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Reda\u00e7\u00e3o CJIMOZ","author_link":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/author\/hcuambe\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Analise<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Analisys Luis Nhachote Attacks have resumed in Mozambique\u2019s north-east, after a lull in April. These include in the district of Palma \u2014 home to the liquefied natural gas projects that carry the hope of transforming Mozambique\u2019s economy (if they go ahead, and if the money is not stolen by elites). Insurgents raided the village of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2776,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2775\/revisions\/2776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjimoz.org.mz\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}