Fight Against Insurgency In Mozambique : Disturbing Theatre Battle

Is Mozambique fast witnessing another scramble after that of for Africa in 1880s? This question emanates from the fact that since 2017 Mozambique has been witnessing incessant deployment of several foreign troops to help stamp out insurgents’ attacks in East, West and Northern Province of Cabo Delgado which are endowed with rich natural resources. Cabo Delgado is home to Africa’s three largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) projects: the Mozambique LNG Project (Total, formerly Anadarko) worth $20bn, Coral FLNG Project (ENI and ExxonMobil) worth $4.7bn, and Rovuma LNG Project (ExxonMobil, ENI and CNPC) worth $30bn. 
Amid all these riches, however, the local population of Cabo Delgado is living in poverty. A study conducted by the UN University World Institute for Development Economics Research in 2016 found that 90 per cent of households in Mozambique’s Northern provinces, including Cabo Delgado, were deprived of basic amenities. Against this backdrop, a handful of disgruntled youths took up machetes to demand equality and better living conditions. The inappropriate handling of their demands was further aggravated by insurgents’ link attacks on the northern Mozambican city of Palma, which left dozens of civilians dead and displaced 30,000 others. The attack, did not only indicate that Africa is now a hotbed for international terror groups, but prompted the international and regional bodies and Western and African governments to seek ways to address the issue by increasing their military presence in these regions. 
In early April, the US Department of Defense announced its decision to send a dozen Army Green Berets to the region to train Mozambican marines. Portugal, which ruled Mozambique for nearly four centuries until its independence in 1975, also sent 60 Special Forces to train local troops. Since July 2021, more than 3,000 troops from Rwanda and Southern African Development ...