Cabo Delgado - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

TotalEnergies to restart its delayed Mozambique LNG project in early 2024

FRENCH energy firm TotalEnergies plans to restart its long-delayed $20 billion Mozambique liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the first quarter of next year, two sources told Reuters. Work on the project has been halted since 2021 when a violent insurgency led by Islamic State-linked militants threatened the Cabo Delgado site, leading to TotalEnergies declaring force majeure and halting construction. In September, chief executive officer at TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanne, said the company planned to restart before the end of this year, as the security situation improved with the support of a regional military force including Rwanda. "TotalEnergies have indicated that they…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Rwandan troops cannot stay Cabo Delgado forever’

NEWS

BAZ RATNER and SHAFIEK TASSIEM RWANDAN President Paul Kagame said the country cannot stay forever in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, where allied Rwandan and Mozambican troops have been recapturing areas from Islamist militants since July. "As much as we cannot be here forever, I think the problem we are dealing with, with our friends in Mozambique, cannot stay here forever too," Kagame said at a news conference with Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi in Pemba, Cabo Delgado's capital city. "Every time, every step, we are assessing what needs to be done... The need to stay and for how long, that comes…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Mozambicans return to uncertain future after Islamists pushed back

NEWS

BAZ RATNER and SHAFIEK TASSIEM RWANDAN forces patrolled burnt-out streets once besieged by Islamist fighters in northern Mozambique, saying it was now safe for civilians to return to the gas-rich region, despite U.N. warnings of a continuing militant threat. Soldiers laid out rifles and rocket launchers seized from the militants. The Rwandan military's spokesman said they had already brought 25,000 people back home. "It is very safe for them to go back," Ronald Rwivanga told Reuters. In July, allied Rwandan-Mozambican troops moved in to recapture parts of northern Cabo Delgado - an area hosting $60 billion worth of gas projects…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

How big is the Islamist threat in Mozambique? And why are Rwandan troops there?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RWANDA has sent troops to Mozambique to assist the government in fighting against a four-year Islamist militant insurgency. Political scientist Phil Clark provides insights into the threat and why Rwanda is supporting Mozambique. PHIL CLARK, Professor of International Politics, SOAS, University of London Do the insurgents in Mozambique represent a new front of Islamic terrorism on the continent? Since 2017, jihadist militias in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado have mounted an armed insurgency against the Mozambican government. Their stated objective is to instil Sharia law across northern Mozambique. This is said to be in response to the region’s…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

More troops to Mozambique

NEWS

PORTUGAL will send a further 60 troops to Mozambique as part of a new cooperation agreement aimed at helping the country tackle an Islamic State-linked insurgency in its north, Portugal's defence minister Joao Cravinho said yesterday. Mozambique has been grappling with the insurgency in its northern-most province of Cabo Delgado since 2017. But militants have massively stepped up their violence in the past year, taking a hefty toll on civilians and bringing a $20 billion liquefied natural gas project run by oil giant Total to a grinding halt. The agreement, which runs until 2026, will see Portugal increase its number…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Mozambique’s Nyusi vows to restore peace

NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE President Filipe Nyusi has pledged that his government will work to restore peace in the country after a deadly militant attack last month near multi-billion-dollar gas projects backed by global oil companies. "We will make all efforts to return peace to our country, in particular in the north, in Cabo Delgado which in recent years has been the target of terrorist attacks," he said during an address to the Mozambique Mining, Energy and Oil and Gas conference in Maputo. Militants attacked the coastal town of Palma on March 24, in a district near liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects that…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Nearly a million going hungry in Mozambique

NEWS

ALMOST one million people are facing severe hunger in northern Mozambique where hundreds of thousands have fled worsening Islamist violence, the U.N. food agency said yesterday. Islamic State-linked insurgents last month attacked Palma, a town in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado next to major gas projects under development by companies including Total and Exxon. The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a briefing in Geneva that 950,000 people are now hungry in Mozambique. It is appealing to donors for $82 million to confront the crisis. "Families and individuals have had to abandon their belongings and livelihoods and flee for…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Frelimo gambled everything on gas – and lost

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

JOSEPH HANLON THE leadership of Mozambique’s ruling party, Frelimo, was dazzled by gas. The discovery of the second-largest gas reserve in Africa in 2010 led the political and business elite to believe Mozambique would be like Abu Dhabi, Qatar or Kuwait. Gas would make them fabulously wealthy and the riches would trickle down to ordinary people. Poverty and inequality were increasing, but there was no reason to spend money on rural development because the gas bonanza would end poverty. Of course, the elites could take their share early, such as with the $2 billion secret debt in 2012. The gas windfall…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Mozambique sets rules for support to help tackle insurgency

NEWS

MOZAMBIQUE has told the international community what support it needs to deal with an Islamic State-linked insurgency, but for reasons of sovereignty it will tackle some aspects of the problem unassisted, its president said yesterday. Filipe Nyusi was speaking two weeks after an attack by insurgents on the coastal town of Palma, near natural gas projects worth tens of billions of dollars that are meant to transform the southern African country's economy. Southern African bloc SADC is holding meetings on Wednesday and Thursday to consider a regional response to the insurgency, while the United States already has a small Army…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Pemba is home to people fleeing Palma

NEWS

EMIDIO JOZINE PETER N'Guila used to have no trouble supporting his family of three on his consultant's salary. But since Islamic State-linked insurgents attacked a northern Mozambique gas hub town last month, he has seven more mouths to feed. Hundreds of people fleeing ongoing hostilities in Palma have been pouring into Pemba, a port city around 250 km (155 miles) to the south already bursting with those displaced by previous rounds of Islamist violence and a deadly cyclone in 2019. Around 90% of those arriving in Pemba are taken in by relatives, while others cram into schools, hotels, makeshift tented…