The rapid escalation and intensification of an armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado has made the northernmost of Mozambique’s eleven provinces the focus of growing national and international attention. Ad-hoc attacks on police and administration units in October 2017 in Mocímboa da Praia district have since become more targeted and gained in range and sophistication. The group, locally known as al-Shabab[1] and referred to as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama, has attacked rural villages and settlements, as well as selected state targets, such as police stations and administrative buildings in Mocímboa da Praia, Nangade, Quissanga and Macomia districts, and more recently, education and healthcare facilities. The violence has had deadly consequences in terms of lives lost, the destruction of human and physical capital, and in terms of a mounting humanitarian and displacement crisis. By end-January 2021, more than three years after the start of the insurgency, 766 incidents of conflict in Cabo Delgado have been recorded, with over 3,800 fatalities from the conflict, both as a result of organized violence and as a result of civilian targeting, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).[2] By end-November 2020, 171 schools had been destroyed,[3] and by end-September, more than one third of Cabo Delgado’s 130 health units had been destroyed or shut down.[4] The number of internally displaced people stood at nearly 670,000 by December 2020,[5] according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Government estimates. Local governments are now increasingly being run by military personnel or police, given that public servants have also fled. The humanitarian crisis is further reinforced by the impacts of Cyclone Kenneth in April 2019, with little reconstruction having taken place since and many still displaced. Although little is known about the insurgents or their intentions, there is evidence that the movement has its own religious, political, and societal agenda. There are also indications of rising radicalisation among local youth and of foreign fighters with links to international violent extremist groups joining the movement. The conflict is also reportedly being fuelled by external factors, including the illicit trade of minerals and resources, via porous borders, open coastal areas, and captured institutions, with the United. Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) suggesting that the drug trade is linked to the insurgency. The conflict risks spilling over into the neighbouring provinces of Niassa and Nampula; it is also increasingly gaining a regional dimension, and the first incidence of maritime piracy related conflict was reported in November 2020.[6] The increased violence in Cabo Delgado has caused unprecedented violations and abuses of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of civilians. There has been increasing reports of killings, injuries, destruction of property, sexual and gender-based violence, abductions as well as forced recruitment. Unlawful arrests and suspected enforced disappearances of imams, journalists, businesspeople, and human rights defenders have also been reported. In addition, there is evidence that the conflict, terrorism and violent extremism is having a unique and disproportionate impacts on women and girls. Women of all ages are increasingly becoming a target of extremist violence and terrorist acts, including the use of sexual violence and slavery to undermine their essential freedoms and rights. Terrorist groups also leverage on traditional gender norms and dynamics within certain societies to enforce violence and perpetuate extremist acts. In addition, on the basis of diagnostics carried out by the partner institutions, including the World Bank Group´s Risk and Resilience Assessment (RRA), the following key factors of fragility have been identified in Northern Mozambique: - Political and economic exclusion, and from the sharing of the peace dividend, has fostered a sense of alienation and disenfranchisement among certain groups, and is reflected in uneven patterns of exclusion.
- The youth, many of whom have low levels of education and skills and are largely in a status of “waithood”, remain particularly marginalised and disenfranchised, while women face challenges related to exclusion from political and economic opportunities, amidst high rates of GBV.
- Uneven delivery of basic services and inequalities in per capita spending have deepened the marginalisation of the region and highlighted its development deficit.
- Limited confidence in the state to protect citizens and deliver justice in light of allegations of corruption and human rights violations by the security forces, and perceived lack of independent investigation and accountability.
- Perceptions of unfairness in the distribution of the benefits of resources and extractives, and challenges related to governance and management of these resources, generate grievances along a number of vectors, including: in relation to limited benefits to the population, and particularly to the youth, from investments in resource extraction, while land dispossession, insufficient resettlement schemes, lack of transparency in the award of concessions and land use titles have particularly impacted the rural population.
- Challenges related to the sustainable use of resources that provide a source of livelihood for many, include overexploitation, unsustainable practices, poor management of land, forests, water bodies, and minerals, lack of enforcement of regulations, and illicit smuggling.
- Key resilience factors in the North of Mozambique include the role of moderate religious actors in fostering resilience and in mediation, particularly in relation to the challenge of violent extremism, as well as that of civil society in opening up spaces for contestation and for advocacy.
In this context, to facilitate a coordinated and structured response to the crisis in the North, to build resilience, and to pave the way for longer-term recovery and growth, the Government of Mozambique (GoM) has requested support from the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), the World Bank (WBG), and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to develop a multi-sector strategy for the North of the country, namely the provinces of Nampula, Niassa, and Cabo Delgado, under the auspices of the Integrated Development Agency for the North (ADIN). The support will be based on the 2008 Joint Declaration on Post-Crisis Assessments and Recovery Planning which offers a framework and structure to ensure that technical support by partners to the GoM for its engagement in the North of Mozambique is coordinated and coherent and avoids risks of fragmentation and duplication. The declaration represents a commitment to work together in support of national ownership of the recovery and peacebuilding process and to coordinate the broader international response to crises. It enables joint support to assessing, planning, and mobilizing support for prevention, recovery, peacebuilding, and reconstruction and development in countries affected by crises. In conflict-affected contexts, this is case, the outcome of the RPBA will be the production of the Development and Resilience Strategy for the North (henceforth “Strategy”). The formulation of the Strategy is aimed at addressing the root causes of exclusion and inequality that have contributed to poverty and poor human capital, and that have created an enabling environment for the conflict and for recruitment into violent extremism. In terms of resilience, the Strategy will identify sources and types of resilience and define a process and elaborate pathways by which to reinforce governances’ structures and mechanisms, rebuild the social and economic fabric that reinforce the social contract, and support the capacities of local communities to manage and mitigate shocks. The formulation of the Strategy also presents an opportunity for partners to coordinate their technical support across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus, while building the capacity and ownership of ADIN. Within the framework of Women, Peace and Security and the United Nations’ agenda on sustaining peace, UN Women seeks to add value to the current Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment and the formulation of the Resilience Strategy for the North by provide technical advisory services in order to ensure that both are gender responsive. UN Women seeks to work closely with the United Nations Country Team, EU and WBG to enable development of a gender-responsive RPBA and Strategy. To this end, UN Women seeks to hire an experienced consultant to provide technical expertise and strategic advice in the Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment as well as the formulation of the Development and Resilience Strategy for the North process. [1] This organization shares the same name as the Somali and Kenyan extremist groups by the same name but is not affiliated with either. It is also known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama. [2] https://acleddata.com/2021/01/17/cabo-ligado-weekly-4-10-january-2021 [3] Data is from Provincial Government of CD and Education Cluster HNO (November 2020). [4] Achá, 2020. [5] OCHA, Mozambique Situaition Report, 31 December 2020. [6] https://acleddata.com/2020/12/01/cabo-ligado-weekly-23-29-november-2020/?utm_source=Armed+Conflict+Location+%26+Event+Data+Project&utm_campaign=4ad61ef1e9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_09_21_06_50_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_26a454684a-4ad61ef1e9-319243213
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