Cabo Ligado Update: 21 April — 4 May 2025

May 7

Written By Cabo Ligado

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By the numbers

Data highlights in Cabo Delgado province (21 April — 4 May 2025)

At least 5 political violence events (2,075 in total since 1 October 2017)
At least 4 reported fatalities from political violence (5,990 since 1 October 2017)
0 reported civilian fatalities (2,504 since 1 October 2017)
At least 5 political violence events involving ISM across Mozambique (1,907 since 1 October 2017)

Islamic State Mozambique (ISM) attacked two sites over 10 days in Niassa province, killing at least eight guards, soldiers, and park rangers. The group also killed three Rwandan soldiers in Mocímboa da Praia district. Insurgents were thwarted in Macomia district, where up to 50 were captured by Rwandan forces stationed at Litamanda. In Zambezia province, FADM deployed up to 300 special forces to regain control of Sabe town from a group describing itself as Naparama that was located at a former Renamo base at the town. The operation, which lasted two weeks, led to an unknown number of casualties.

Situation Summary

At least eight killed in insurgent attacks in the Niassa Reserve

Insurgents attacked the luxury Kambako hunting camp in Hunting Block B of the Niassa Reserve on the bank of the Cabo Delgado side of the Lugenda river on 19 April and occupied the site for at least five days. They beheaded two guards, believed to be Zimbabwean, and took at least nine hostages, two of whom escaped, according to local sources.

Insurgents also stole five land cruisers, five guns, motorbikes, fuel and supplies before burning the camp on 24 April, local sources said. IS took responsibility for killing the two guards and claimed to have burned a light aircraft and other vehicles. Around 40 to 50 people were reported to have taken part in the incident, including civilians from nearby villages recruited to help carry the looted goods.

Security forces arrived at Kambako by 26 April, a week after the attack began, and found the camp destroyed. Around 30 Defense Armed Forces of Mozambique (FADM) troops were also sent to the town of Mecula in Niassa, around 65 kilometers from Kambako, to guard against further insurgent incursions into the province, a local source said.

On 29 April, insurgents crossed the Lugenda and attacked the Mariri Environmental Centre in the Mecula district of Niassa province. The Islamic State (IS) claimed that insurgents killed six Mozambican soldiers and wounded several others, publishing photos purportedly of the incident that show five dead bodies, four of them are dressed in military uniform. Other photos show a burning plane and a haul of captured weapons, including several assault rifles, a light machine gun, and three rocket-propelled grenades.

The Niassa Carnivore Project, a conservation program headquartered at Mariri, confirmed the attack in a statement and announced two of its anti-poaching scouts, likely identified as soldiers by IS, were killed in the attack, while two others were missing. Many of the 2,000 people living in the nearby Mbamba village fled into the bush following the attack, according to the statement.

Three Rwandan soldiers killed in Mocímboa da Praia

ISM fighters killed three Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) soldiers on 3 May in Ntotwe, less than 20 km from the Rwandan forces' headquarters in Mocímboa da Praia town. IS claimed the killing of three soldiers and published photos showing two bodies in military uniform with the Rwandan flag visible on the arm, along with standard-issue RDF automatic rifles. This is the first time IS has provided visual evidence of a Rwandan casualty. Previous claims have mistaken the Mozambican Quick Reaction Force, which uses similar uniform and equipment to the RDF, for Rwandans. Insurgents also looted goods and kidnapped five children in the attack, a local source reported.

This is the seventh attack in the area between Awasse and Mocímboa da Praia town since January, and the third attack in that time on Ntotwe itself. Ntotwe may be a corridor the insurgents use to move between southern Mocímboa da Praia and Nangade district, where insurgents have recently been active. The district administrator, Sérgio Domingos Cipriano, visited Ntotwe after the attack and called on residents to be vigilant, saying there may be infiltrators in the community providing insurgents with intelligence on security forces' movements.

Rwandan forces capture a large group of insurgents in Macomia

Rwandan forces had more success in Macomia district, where they captured up to 50 insurgents near Litamanda in the second week of April, two local sources said. According to one of the sources, the group was spotted by Local Force moving from Miangelewa in Muidumbe district toward Litamanda. Local Force alerted the Rwandan detachment at Litamanda, allowing Rwandan soldiers to mobilize and surround the group, which then surrendered. The successful operation suggests a possible change in Rwandan forces' posture in the first half of the year.

On the Macomia coast, IS issued a claim for an attack on a FADM patrol on 22 April near Cobre, between Quiterajo and Mucojo. According to IS’ al-Naba newsletter, one FADM soldier was killed and others wounded, and a vehicle was destroyed. The attack is likely to discourage nascent returns to Mucojo. Over 5,000 residents have returned to Mucojo Administrative Post since December, from a total population of over 30,000, according to a Carta report.

Elsewhere, insurgents have continued to raise money through ransoms. On 23 April, insurgents captured up to four fishing boats near Tambuzi island off the coast of Mocímboa da Praia and ransomed the fishermen. The value of the ransom has not been reported, but sources said the hostages were later released. This is the third such incident at Tambuzi Island this year. In Meluco district, insurgents raided the village of Sitate for goods on 1 May. Insurgents captured a vehicle and forced the driver to transport their loot into the woods, then demanded the owner transfer 200,000 meticais in exchange for the release of the car, local sources reported.

FADM special forces conduct two-week operation in Zambezia province

FADM deployed up to 300 special forces troops to regain control of Sabe town in southern Zambezia. Brigadier Bernardo Ntchokomala announced the completion of the operation on 24 April. A group describing itself as Naparama had taken control of the town for up to two months, operating out of a former Renamo base where they had held almost 300 women and children hostage. According to a local source, there were casualties on both sides, though no official figures have been released.

This operation, together with the clash in Mutuali in Nampula province the week before, in which five Naparama were killed, indicate that at local level, state authorities are facing a rising threat from groups that present themselves as Naparama. They also indicate that security forces are taking an increasingly aggressive approach to them.

Focus: Insurgents in Niassa province

ISM’s attack on the Mariri environmental center on 29 April is the group’s first significant incursion into Niassa province since 2021. That year, fighters stayed in Niassa for less than two months. The security response so far suggests that a similar sojourn could ensue. Though ISM has strong historical ties to Niassa, a permanent move is unlikely.

During the last major incursion into Niassa in 2021, insurgents moved westward from Palma and Nangade districts to avoid operations by Rwandan security forces and the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) in Cabo Delgado province. This year, in contrast, they came to Niassa through Montepuez district, where they have recently been active and under no pressure from state forces. This suggests the incursion was more purposive. The attack’s propaganda value is significant, as it demonstrates the group’s impact to its members, potential recruits, and the wider IS network. Some useful supplies, such as the park rangers’ gear they were wearing in photographs IS released under the Amaq News Agency brand, could be obtained from camps. However, they likely found little cash. With all supplies brought into these sites by road or air, there is little need for cash.

One local source has also speculated that the move into Niassa may have been to pick up recruits who have crossed from Tanzania. Any such crossing would likely be near Gomba in the north of Mecula district, on Niassa’s northeast border with Tanzania. Ties between communities on both sides of the border are strong. In 2018, Tanzanian police offered a two-week amnesty for armed Mozambican youth in the town of Masuguru to turn themselves in to authorities. The insurgency’s connections to Mecula district are well-documented. One of its leaders, Maulana Ali Cassimo, was from Mecula, before dying in an ambush by Mozambican state forces in the district in 2021. Sérgio Chichava of the Institute for Economic and Social Studies (IESE) has shown how Cassimo was active in the district in radicalization and recruitment in the years before the insurgency.

Security forces’ response to the incursion has been ineffective. According to one source, the permanent security presence in Niassa reserve consists of isolated outposts of the police Rapid Response Unit (UIR), as well as detachments of the police’s border guard. These deployments are small, poorly resourced, and vulnerable to attack. Reinforcements have been deployed to Niassa, but so slowly that the insurgents were able to remain in Kambako camp for up to five days, before moving north to attack Mariri 10 days after the Kambako attack.

The attacks again demonstrate ISM’s ability to vary its tactics and to strike far from its normal operational areas in Macomia and southern Cabo Delgado district. The attacks will also further hit the country’s tourism industry. IS analysis of the attack in its weekly al-Naba newsletter noted its impact on employment, local communities, and heightened security and reconstruction costs, as well as a likely falloff in tourism numbers. Trophy hunting in Mozambique is not as big a business as in neighboring South Africa or Tanzania, but the attacks will damage the country’s reputation in wider tourism markets.

Roundup

Syrah Resources plans to resume production following land dispute settlement

Syrah Resources plans to restart production at its Balama graphite mine in Mozambique by the end of June 2025 after signing a compensation agreement with local farmers and the government. The agreement would end more than four months of shutdown. The mine has been closed since December 2024 due to protests over land compensation, which have blocked access to the site and halted operations. Syrah declared force majeure in December as a result of these disruptions.

IMF demands place pressure on President Chapo

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has set out challenging parameters for President Daniel Chapo’s government to meet in negotiations. Speaking to Mozambique’s Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA), the IMF’s resident representative in Mozambique, Olamide Harrison, called for public sector wage controls, the cutting of tax exemptions, and improved tax administration.

Mozambique’s post-election disorder was sparked by anger at the election result but grew to include cost-of-living issues. Signaling a positive response to the IMF, the government has already postponed public sector pay negotiations until August, and the CTA has recommended the same for the private sector. Rising demonstrations in the coming months by organized labor in the public sector, particularly in health and education, may be expected.

TotalEnergies targets mid-2025 to resume LNG project

CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné told investors on 30 April that the company was aiming to recommence operations on its Afungi liquefied natural gas project by the middle of the year. If necessary, he said, the funding shortfall would be made up by investor equity. In March, the Export-Import Bank of the United States gave final approval of 4.7 billion US dollars in financing for the project.

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