Mozambique: ISIS local branch ravages two northern cities

Text by: Romain Mielcarek Follow

After months of massacring civilians in northern Mozambique, the local branch of the Islamic State group took a new step last week: the capture of two cities, without much difficulty. This movement worries the authorities, who do not seem to be able to stop a cycle of violence that has been increasing since 2017.

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In the Cabo Delgado region, in the far north of Mozambique, we have become accustomed to attacks by the Islamist group that has ravaged the region since 2017 . However, last Monday, March 23, members of Ansar al-Sunnah surprised the authorities: at 4 am, they took control of Mocimboa da Praia. They destroyed state-linked buildings, banks and looted businesses. Two days later, they renewed this sinister feat in Quisanga, some 200 kilometers further south.

" It is the first time that they have attacked cities, two days in a row," explains Éric Morier-Genoud, a researcher at the University of Belfast who works on Mozambique. They occupied Mocimboa da Praia until 8 p.m. and then left. It is a change of tactics on their part and a real show of force. "

Local branch of Islamic State

Ansar al-Sunnah is known in the region as "al-Shabab", the "youth", although this has nothing to do with the group active in Somalia. In 2008, this group emerged as a sect which claimed to be able to live under a sharia regime, without contact with the State. In 2015, it evolves in an insurrectionary logic, and multiplies the violence from 2017, until pledging allegiance to the Islamic State in July 2019.

" Until 2019, they target civilians a lot," analyzes Matteo Puxton, a connoisseur of the Islamic State and its various emanations, forced to work under pseudonym following threats. Then they started attacking the security forces, ambushing, attacking on the roads and even at fixed positions. "

The members of this group now all wear camouflage uniforms and are systematically equipped with assault rifles, whereas many were satisfied with edged weapons a few years ago. An increasing number of their attacks have resulted in official communications from Amaq, the official Islamic State news agency, the first in June 2019. Since then, this group and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which operate in Democratic Republic of Congo, form the "central Africa province" of the terrorist organization. However, there do not seem to be any concrete links or exchanges between them.

" They are consolidating on their territory," confirms Éric Morier-Genoud. The fear is that they will progress beyond. The claims of this group are currently very vague. Besides this fairly general politico-religious claim, it is difficult to say what they offer to local populations. After their attack in Mocimboa da Praia, they distributed to the inhabitants the object of their looting: money and food. The population, predominantly Muslim, suffers from poverty and the absence of the State, in an area conducive to trafficking of all kinds.

The outmoded Mozambican state

On the ground, the security forces seem overwhelmed. In most attacks, the military is forced to flee. Lack of means to monitor communications and movements of insurgents, they are forced to wait for the latter to launch assaults.

Outdated, the Mozambican government discreetly appealed to Russia. In September 2019, a detachment estimated at 200 men , of whom it is not known whether they belong to the Russian army, to the private military company Wagner, or both, went headlong in the north to subdue the insurgents. Poorly prepared, faced with an adversary who perfectly masters the terrain, the Russians were forced to withdraw despite the support of several helicopters and after having suffered significant losses, with at least a dozen dead.

Threat to Mozambique's gas core

The province of Cabo Delgado is crucial for Mozambique. Two huge offshore blocks of gas, the largest reserves in East Africa, are exploited by the big international giants, protected as best they can by Mozambican special forces: Total, ENI or ExxonMobil. " They are very worried that there are attacks on gas sites," notes Éric Morier-Genoud. Mocimba is an important logistics center for this industry, with an airport and a port through which the material passes. With these attacks, things get complicated. "

On February 22, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, went to Maputo to speak in particular about the fight against terrorism. It was the first visit of this type to Mozambique since 2002. The French State remains discreet about the nature of these exchanges but a source confirms to RFI that the French Directorate of Military Intelligence (DRM) is taking more and more serious interest to this area.

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• Mozambique
• Terrorism
• Islam

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