The United States on Thursday (December 3rd) pledged to help Mozambique fight the Islamist insurgency threatening the resource-rich province of Cabo Delgado in the north of the country.
State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Nathan Sales met with President Filipe Nyusi in Maputo. “The United States wishes to deepen its friendship with Mozambique as we both face the challenge of terrorism”the US official said in a statement.
Bloody insurrection
Nathan Sales stressed the need for international cooperation to end the conflict in northern Mozambique, which has lasted for three years and has resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people, leading to the forced displacement of 500,000 more.
A group referred to locally as Al-Chabab (” youth ”in Arabic) launched a bloody insurgency in 2017 in the province of Cabo Delgado and in 2019 pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
The conflict is taking place in a strategic region for the exploitation of immense reserves of liquefied natural gas, on which this poor country in southern Africa relies to increase its income and become one of the world’s main exporters.
