1. Increasing Attacks Cause Renewed Humanitarian Crisis
The escalating attacks in the southern parts of Cabo Delgado have led to a renewed humanitarian crisis, with tens of thousands having been displaced, and receiving little or no assistance in the places they fled to. Sources on the ground report that there is no support from either the Mozambican government or from NGO’s. The pictures below show the plight of displaced persons who have fled Ancuabe, and are now sleeping in torn tents or in the open air in Chiure:
The picture below was taken on 23 June at Ancuabe. Residents continue to flee in large numbers:
Mozambican historian Yussuf Adam (Cape Delgado: “The spread of war to the south was expected,” says historian | Mozambique | | DW 23.06.2022) contextualized the situation: “ The consequence is that in most mining investments and projects – for example, graphite or other matters – investors will be more careful, they may even withdraw their workers, especially international ones, for safety reasons. It is well known that the United States of America prohibits the movement of its citizens to territories considered unsafe. What’s happening is nothing we weren’t expecting. It was predictable, because the guerrilla is this: it’s a kind of war in which the enemy attacks here, flees there, goes around there… and the Mozambican Army, SAMIM and Rwandan are responding as they can, but they are not always able to react to the guerrillas, which have specific characteristics. There are several theories about the type of attacks perpetrated by the insurgents, that they attack everyone in large groups… But I think it’s about mirages. They gather to prepare an attack and then try to dissolve in the middle of the forest, in the middle of the villages, etc… Now, your presence in the South is something new, something that a lot of people didn’t think was going to happen. I’m not part of this group: I always thought they were going to do attacks in southern Cabo Delgado and even try to go to Nampula. They have already entered Nampula province. Now, we need to know that attacks have a stage of preparation, of study. You have to set goals. And it is necessary to study the geography, the terrain… This is extremely important to make war. And [what the insurgents] are doing is taking advantage of everything that’s going to hide, to move… So what they’re doing is widening their area of attack to create more problems for the Mozambican Army and its allies”.
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