Written by Zahid Jadwat | Edited by Mohammed Arai
Islamist insurgents captured the strategic northern Mozambique port town of Mocimboa da Praia on Monday last week, their biggest prize in a 30-month-long insurgency, according to security sources and the official news agency.
The violence has been accelerated by international interest in the region due to its plentiful natural resources.
“[This conflict] has been internationalized. We are already seeing countries taking note of the situation and trying to get involved. Portugal is actively involved in trying to counter the insurgency,” told Jasmine Opperman, director of Africa at the Terrorism, Research Analysis Consortium (TRAC) to Salaamedia’s Inayet Wadee.
The town is in Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province, about 200km north of the larger port town of Pemba, and close to the Tanzanian border. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians have been killed in scores of attacks by the insurgency which began in October 2017.
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Featured image from Google via ISS Africa.
