While joint Mozambican, Rwandan and Southern African Development Community troops battle Islamist insurgents in the northernmost Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, local religious leaders are organizing an ideological offensive with the goal of opening new paths toward peace. Since 2017, an armed group whose goals remain unclear has been attacking several districts in Cabo Delgado.
Its violent acts include killing civilians — many times involving decapitation — destroying entire villages and kidnappings.
Strategic locations, including the city of Mocimboa da Praia, had been under the group’s control for several months.
Between 2018 and 2019, the insurgents — known locally as Al-Shabab but not related to the Somali group of the same name — began pledging alle-giance to Daesh.
Their actions have caused the displacement of an estimated 850,000 people to the province’s capital Pemba and to other southern districts. Large natural gas exploitation near the town of Palma has had to be suspended.The crisis has led many international organizations to deploy people and resources to offer relief to those impacted.
At the end of 2021, Muslim and Christian leaders gathered in Pemba to discuss how religion could bring peace back to Cabo Delgado. The insurgents “don’t have anything to do with Islam. They claim to be Muslim and have Muslim names, but everything they do is contrary to Islam,” said Sheikh Aminuddin Muhammad, who leads Mozambique’s Islamic Council. He emphasized that the insurgents have attacked several imams and burned mosques since they be-gan to operate in Cabo Delgado.
“Back in 2017, we began to notice a strange movement of foreigners and the dissemination of awkward propaganda in Cabo Delgado. —Agencies
