Hello and welcome to Zitamar's conflict newsletter, rounding up the week's main conflict incidents and economic developments in northern Mozambique, in particular in Cabo Delgado province.
The current plan is to put out a newsletter once a week, depending on news flow. Most of the incidents and updates contained in the newsletter will have appeared on our new Telegram channel dedicated to conflict updates, which you can join here:
The launch of this newsletter coincides with a change in the regular Update published by the Mozambique Conflict Monitor (MCM, formerly Cabo Ligado), our joint project with conflict monitoring organisation ACLED. That Update is shifting from fortnightly to monthly. The last fortnightly edition came out this week.
All MCM updates will also be sent to subscribers of this newsletter from now on. Anyone with a Zitamar account, whether free or paid, can currently receive this newsletter, though this is subject to change.
The most significant event this week in the Cabo Delgado conflict was an attack by Islamic State (IS) fighters on the military position at Namabo, in Macomia district, on the night of 22 June. IS claimed to have killed five soldiers. The position has been targeted before — most recently on 31 January, when Islamic State Mozambique (ISM) fighters struck the Catupa and Namabo positions.
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In a further blow to the Mozambican Armed Defence Forces (FADM), one of the navy's vessels sank on 18 June between Matemo and Ibo islands during rough weather. At least nine crew members are feared dead. The same vessel has been repeatedly implicated in the killing of fishermen off the coast of Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia.
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These attacks follow the return of insurgents from southern Cabo Delgado, after roughly two months in the region. Fighters have been using the Quissanga corridor to move towards Mucojo, in Macomia district, with frequent movement along the villages of Cagembe and Bilibiza. Reports suggest that other groups are once again leaving Mucojo — heading south within Cabo Delgado, and west towards the N380 road.
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Several outlets reported that an unofficial curfew was in force in Mocímboa da Praia. Zitamar sought to verify this with multiple sources in the town: some said no curfew existed, while others reported no restrictions on movement. In a conflict-affected area, such differing perceptions are common. According to Zumbo FM, the administrator of Mocímboa da Praia denied that any curfew was in place. The story was covered in our Daily Briefing on Tuesday:
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The Agency for the Integrated Development of the North (ADIN) is to roll out a community-focused project aimed at empowering young people and creating economic opportunities across Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces, minister of planning and development Salim Valá announced. The $250m MozCommunity initiative is funded by the World Bank and will reach all 56 districts in the three northern provinces, he said. See Wednesday's Daily:
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And in other news from the province, Italian oil and gas company Eni has begun sounding out contractors for a third floating LNG platform offshore Mozambique. Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), the Eni- and ExxonMobil-led consortium developing the Area 4 gas fields, has invited companies to submit expressions of interest for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of a third FLNG unit, with capacity of up to 6mtpa — significantly larger than the existing Coral Sul platform and the Coral Norte platform currently in development.
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Not this week, but since the last MCM Update, Cabo Delgado also has a new Secretary of State: Fernando de Sousa, who moves from the same position in Nampula. The outgoing Cabo Delgado SoS, Plácido Pereira, moves the other way. De Sousa is pictured at the top of the newsletter.
That's all for now. Again, this newsletter is available to free subscribers but if you don’t already support Zitamar News through a paid subscription, please consider doing so:
