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The atrocities that took place in Mozambique last year are still fresh in the memory.

The March 2021 attack on the Mozambican town of Palma, by insurgents from a local Islamist organisation called Allu Sunna wa Jama, or al-Shabaab, or ISIS-Mozambique, made international headlines.

In the days and weeks that followed, horrific stories of trapped families trying to escape the insurgents were widely covered, along with the heroism of unarmed boats that plucked civilians off beaches and coastal islands.

The headlines may have died down but the problem is from over. In November, an armed group linked to the Islamic State attacked a village in Cabo Delgado, armed with machine guns, and an Islamic State-linked armed group in northern Mozambique was said to be kidnapping boys and using them to fight government forces.

TimesLIVE now reports that at least 17 attacks by the Islamic State affiliate in northern Mozambique have taken place since last Friday, with “significant casualties” among civilians and at least two victims being beheaded:

Experts now fear the insurgency’s expansion towards the south has started.

Institute for Security Studies senior analyst Willem Els says he called this attack months ago…

Image: Outside Online

“The insurgents know they have space and difficult terrain on their side. They keep one large force ready for their intended target and the rest of their fighters break up into smaller groups. These groups strike widely, forcing the SADC force to spread thinly reacting on these strikes and leaving their primary target open for attack by the larger force,” Els said.

Els said he wouldn’t characterise the insurgents as extremist Islamic fighters, although they “absolutely use Islam as a vehicle to further their agenda and plans”.

Worryingly, the longer the conflict goes on, the more sophisticated these fighters become:

“What started in 2017 as unhappy civilians with machetes has now progressed to the point where the SAMIM forces recently recovered some improvised explosives that can be activated using a mobile phone.”

He says the insurgents have also started using landmines… [and] believes the conflict will start spreading to the south.

“It is inevitable. Who knows, they might already have active cells in Maputo.”

Captured insurgents are being held in a prison in Pemba, the region’s logistical supply hub. While getting these people behind bars is great, fears are growing that an attack on the facilities could see huge numbers of insurgents freed.

The attacks last week took place in the Ancuabe district, just 45 kilometres from Pemba, reports FIDES.

More than 784 000 people have been displaced in northern Mozambique due to the violence, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

For those of you who enjoy a long read, and this one may well take you 45 minutes or so, I would highly recommend “I’m Still Alive but Sh*t Is Getting Wild”: Inside the Siege of the Amarula.

It’s an incredible look at the bravery of 200 or so people, holed up in a hotel and under attack from rebels last March, told in a no-holds-barred manner.

[sources:timeslive&fides]