In June 202, Southern African states authorised the launch of a military mission to Mozambique,
which is in the midst of fighting an increasingly tough battle against Islamic insurgents.
Since then, the EU has also announced the deployment of a mission to the country.
Largely unreported, the uprising is now considered to be one of the most
serious threats to peace and security in Africa.
Hello and welcome. If you're new to the channel, my name is James Ker-Lindsay and here I take an
informed look at international relations, conflicts and the origins of countries.
Over the past two and a half decades,
international attention has been focused on the rise of Islamic extremist organisations.
Aside from parts of the Middle East, where groups like Al-Qaeda and Islamic
State have gained ground, we've also seen this extend out across South Asia,
South East Asia, North Africa and, increasingly, Sub-Saharan Africa.
The latest area of concern is Mozambique.
Over the past four years. an uprising by group affiliated to Islamic State
has been waging a particularly brutal insurgency in the north of the country.
This has now resulted in a decision by a number of international actors,
including the Southern African Development Community and the European Union, to step in.
So, what exactly is the insurgency about and why has it prompted
such a major international response?
Mozambique lies in southeast Africa.
To its east is the Indian Ocean - a 2,500 kilometre long coastline.
In total, it's 800 000 square kilometers, or 310 000 square miles, making it the 35th
largest of the 193 members of the United Nations.
Its population is currently around 30 million, putting it in 46th place.
Most of the population hail from groups that speak the Bantu languages of southern Africa,
but the country also has small European, Arab, South Asian and Chinese communities.
In terms of religion, about half are believed to be Christian;
divided between Catholics and adherents of various protestant churches.
Meanwhile, it's believed that around 20 per cent are Muslim - although some have
suggested that the figure is significantly higher.
Interestingly, while Muslims make up a minority of the population,
the country is nevertheless one of the 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation,
and the only member from southern Africa.
While the country has a history stretching back millennia,
the story really begins with the arrival of Muslim traders and travellers in the 10th century,
who established the first islamic presence in the country.
But the most significant development came 500 years later
when the Portuguese arrived and set up a trading presence.
This gradually expanded until the territory became a formal colony: Portuguese East Africa.
While the end of the Second World War saw the start of
European decolonisation in Asia and Africa,
Portugal steadfastly resisted; insisting that the colonies were a formal part of the country.
As a result, in the early 1960s, a marxist guerrilla movement - the Front
for the Liberation of Mozambique, FRELIMO - emerged to fight against Portuguese rule.
Centred mainly in the north, within a few years it had taken control of much of the region .
However, the Portuguese government refused to relinquish control, even though most of
the neighbouring countries had by now become independent; mainly from British colonial rule.
In the end, independence came following a
left-wing military coup in Portugal - the so-called Carnation Revolution
in April 1974 - which saw the country withdraw from its overseas colonies.
On 25 June 1975, Mozambique became independent under a FRELIMO government,
joining the United Nations later that year.
But just two years later, Mozambique descended into a brutal civil war
as South African-backed guerrillas of the Mozambican National Resistance,
RENAMO, fought to overthrow the Soviet and Cuban-backed FRELIMO government.
The conflict would eventually last 15 years.
But as the Cold War drew to a close, the war came to an end.
In 1992, a UN-backed peace deal led to multi-party elections two years later.
In the years that followed the end of the civil war, and notwithstanding occasional tensions
including a renewed RENAMO insurgency between 2013 and 2019, Mozambique began to develop.
While predominantly agricultural, the economy grew on the back of the country's natural resources.
These included large deposits of iron ore, gold,
nickel, platinum and bauxite, used to make aluminium.
On top of this, significant natural gas deposits were discovered off the country's northern coast,
leading to major investments by international energy firms.
But while all this has seen steady economic growth over the past 30 years,
Mozambique remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
More to the point, any economic gains from natural gas are now being put at risk by a
major insurgency centred on Cabo Delgado, the most northerly of the country's 11 provinces.
With a population of around 2.3 million, it's home to many of the country's Muslims.
It's also the poorest of the country's provinces, despite the natural gas discoveries.
And it's this combination of under development and resentment that its
natural wealth is not feeding through to the local population
that's provided fertile ground for the recruitment to the extremist cause.
The first reports of tensions emerged in October 2017,
when militants launched an assault on several government buildings.
From there, the organization - known locally as Al-Shabab "The Youth", a name also used by the
apparently unrelated militant movement in Somalia - went on to carry out numerous other attacks.
Focusing on government and civilian targets alike,
these were usually marked by extreme brutality and often involved mass killings.
In April 2018, the group pledged allegiance to Islamic State,
which in turn formally acknowledged it as an affiliate the following August.
However, despite this apparent link, close observers have
suggested that the insurgency remains essentially locally organised and run,
and that suggestions of direct Islamic State involvement are in fact overplayed.
At first, Mozambique tried to fight the insurgency on its own, but it soon proved to be too much.
Despite external offers of assistance,
the government instead turned to private organisations to assist its efforts.
However, the situation continued to deteriorate amidst accusations of atrocities by all sides.
By the start of 2021, the impact of the insurgency was really being felt.
Over 2,500 people had been killed in more than 700 recorded attacks.
In addition, it was estimated that anywhere between half a million and 800,000 people -
between a quarter and a third of the province's population - had been forced to flee the fighting.
In total, the UN estimated that 1.3 million people now required some sort of humanitarian assistance.
Against this backdrop, the growing insurgency was starting to gain
attention amongst the wider international community.
In March 2021, the US State Department officially designated Al-Shabab,
or ISIS Mozambique, as it calls it, a terrorist organisation.
However, the main turning point came at the end of March 2021, when Al-Shabab launched a major
attack on the port town of Palma, the heart of natural gas production in the province,
destroying much of the town; including government offices, shops, houses and even a military base.
Additionally, a major multi-billion dollar natural gas plant being built by the French
energy company, Total, was targeted; leading to the deaths of local and foreign contractors.
Although the town was eventually retaken by government forces, the impact was enormous.
Just weeks later, Total announced it was suspending its operations in Mozambique.
By now, the threat could no longer be ignored.
Quite apart from the direct effects it was having on Mozambique,
other southern African countries now saw it as a growing threat to regional peace and security.
Soon after the attack on Palma, the 16-member Southern African Development
Community, the SADC or Sadac, held an extraordinary summit in Maputo,
the capital of Mozambique, to discuss the situation.
In June 2021, and following an official request from Mozambique,
SADC announced that it would send a military force - the
Standby Force Mission to the Republic of Mozambique - to tackle the insurgency.
At the same time, others now mobilised.
Soon afterwards, the European Union also authorised a 300 person-strong
military training mission to the country.
Intended to last two years, it'll provide counter-terrorism training
as well as training on civilian protection and international humanitarian law.
Interestingly, given the colonial history, half the force will in fact
be made up of Portuguese troops and it will be led by Portuguese officer.
In the meantime, other assistance is already on the ground.
While the southern African nations are still waiting for final approval on the terms of
their deployment, it's emerged that Rwanda has already sent 1,000 troops to the country
and that they're engaged in operations.
Of course, whether all this will make any difference to the insurgency has yet to be seen.
Nevertheless, the presence of such large numbers of external troops
is a clear indication of just how seriously the insurgency is now being taken.
The uprising in northern Mozambique is one of the most serious conflicts in Africa.
Four years after it started, thousands have died and well over half a million
people have now been forced to flee their homes.
It's also had a devastating effect on efforts to build the economy
of one of the poorest countries in the world.
But it's the link with Islamic State that's obviously given cause for particular concern.
This appears to mark a major foray into southern Africa,
an area that has not previously experienced Islamic extremism.
But it's also important to set this into its proper context.
While there's inevitably a focus on the links with Islamic State,
underlying the conflict of familiar themes of marginalisation,
poverty and disputes over resource revenues - all set against a post-conflict backdrop.
The fact that the population is Muslim has given disaffected members of the community
a ready outlet for their anger and frustration.
But the roots of the problem seem focused on issues of economic underdevelopment.
In this sense, while there's now a growing military response to the crisis,
any long-term solution will also need to focus on these economic aspects.
The cruel irony, of course, is that one of the best hopes for addressing the
situation - the exploitation of natural gas - has now been closed off by the insurgency.
As a result of all this, Mozambique is now seemingly locked into a vicious
circle of underdevelopment begetting violence begetting under development.
I hope you found that useful.
If so, here are some more videos that you might find interesting.
And please do consider supporting the channel either by subscribing
or joining, I've put a link below.
Thanks so much for watching and see you in the next video.