Farmers from the village of Mandela, in the district of Muidumbe , in the province of Cabo Delgado, in the northern region of Mozambique, have been abandoning their agricultural fields since 3 March, due to the approach of elements associated with terrorist groups.
According to a Lusa report, most of the farmers were in the Nova Família and Tadavala camps, on the banks of the Messalo river, on the border with the Macomia district, around 60 kilometres from the town of Muidumbe, where they were clearing fields for food and tobacco production.
‘Nova Família and Tadavala had characteristics for production, but there has been an uncontrolled movement of men wielding machetes and other instruments and these movements wear them down,’ explained an anonymous source quoted by the Portuguese agency.
According to this source, there are no reports of deaths among the peasants, but the rebel movements operating in the region are sowing fear and panic in the two camps.
‘No-one has been killed, but the movements of this group have us worried, so we’re going out and checking the environment.’
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado, a province rich in natural gas, has been facing an armed rebellion that has caused thousands of deaths and generated a humanitarian crisis, resulting in more than a million internally displaced people.
In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremist groups in the province, representing an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to data recently released by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution of the US Department of Defense specialising in conflict analysis in Africa.
The most recent major attack took place on 10 and 11 May 2024, when around a hundred insurgents invaded and looted the district headquarters of Macomia, resulting in several deaths and intense fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces, supported by troops from Rwanda, who are assisting the country in fighting the rebels.
