Mozambique's military said last year [8] that more than 90% of Cabo Delgado province had been secured from jihadist insurgents known locally as al-Shabab, yet attacks this year indicate that the conflict is far from over. After seizing a strategic village [9] last month, fighters killed more than 20 soldiers in an attack on Feb. 9. Cases of beheadings, kidnappings, and ambushes are still being reported [10] by conflict monitors, even as the jihadists (who launched their insurgency in 2017) reportedly try to win civilians' hearts and minds.
More than half a million displaced people have gone back to their homes [13] amid improvements in the security situation, but the returnees face the risk of unexploded ordnance as well as renewed violence. Despite the recent attacks, a southern African military force is set to end [11] its three-year mission in the coming months after a mixed record [11], and humanitarian funding has also been cut, according to aid groups.
From The New Humanitarian [14], Feb. 16
The Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) is set to expire just as a new SADC intervention [15] has been prepared for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The insurgency [16] in Cabo Delgado is now operating under the rubric [17] of the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), which also has an affiliate [18] in the DRC.
