The Mozambique army said Friday that the city of Palma is safe after last month’s ISIS-affiliated rebels attacked parts of the northern gas exploration hub, killing dozens and displacing tens of thousands.
Al Jazeera reported that about 200 armed rebels began the attack on 24 March. There is a significant population of foreign workers, and many are believed to have been targeted. The report said that a dozen beheaded bodies were white. The nationalities could not be confirmed – the report said the country is working to identify the bodies.
The Associated Press reported thousands of residents in the region have fled to Tanzania amid the uprising in the country’s northern Cabo Delgado province. The Financial Times reported the violence that has broken out in the country has led to energy companies suspending projects there.
The conflict in the region started in 2017 and has resulted in 2,600 deaths and 700,000 of the region’s 2.3 million have fled, the paper said. There are questions about Mozambique’s military and whether it can wage a successful campaign against the ISIS-Mozambique fighters. The country has employed international mercenaries to fight in some conflicts, the report said.
The FT reported that the country’s gas fields in the region are important, and Mozambique could benefit from support from the U.S. and Portugal. The country was once a Portuguese colony.
Analysts told Al Jazeera that these rebels are “steeped in local political, religious and economic discontent,” which has steadily increased since the start of the conflict.
TREND FORECAST: As the facts prove, the COVID War has wrought devastating socio-economic hardship across much of the world. As we have detailed, while the billionaires have gotten richer, the rest of society, especially the lower economic segments, have gotten much poorer. We note what is going on in Mozambique to further illustrate how bad situations will become much worse as the “Greatest Depression” worsens.
Civil wars will escalate into regional wars, and the flood of people leaving war-torn regions into safe-haven nations will create strong support for anti-immigration, anti-global political movements.
