Mozambique's Chapo urges African resource security cooperation amid Cabo Delgado insurgency

Mozambican President Daniel Chapo has called for stronger African cooperation to protect strategic minerals, natural gas and oil, suggesting a link between resource discoveries and armed insurgencies as violence continues in the country's gas-rich Cabo Delgado province.

Speaking at the 12th Tana Forum in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, on October 24, Chapo said African countries needed to coordinate security efforts and ensure that competition for natural resources did not undermine their sovereignty and development, according to the Mozambique News Agency (AIM).

Chapo cited the proximity of what he described as gas discoveries in 2016 and the outbreak of the Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado in October 2017.

"We discovered gas reserves in 2016 in Cabo Delgado, and around the same time, terrorism appeared in 2017. It is too much of a coincidence that wherever resources are discovered, terrorism also appears," Chapo said, as quoted by AIM.

However, Mozambique's National Petroleum Institute dates the major initial offshore gas discoveries in the Rovuma Basin to 2010, seven years before the insurgency began.

Researchers have identified multiple drivers of the conflict, including poverty, political exclusion, religious radicalisation, corruption, ethnic tensions and grievances over the distribution of resource wealth. The timing of gas discoveries does not establish that competition for those reserves caused the rebellion.

The insurgency began with attacks on police installations in Mocímboa da Praia in October 2017. The militants, locally known as Al-Shabaab or Ansar al-Sunna and subsequently aligned with Islamic State, expanded attacks against government forces and civilians.

Research by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime identifies economic inequality, political exclusion and the unequal distribution of benefits from natural resources among the grievances contributing to the conflict.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded at least 6,632 deaths from political violence in Cabo Delgado between October 2017 and June 14, 2026, including 2,772 reported civilian fatalities. The figures cover political violence in the province and are not limited to deaths directly attributed to Islamist insurgents.

In its October conflict update, ACLED said Islamic State Mozambique carried out 19 attacks targeting civilians in September, compared with 11 in August and nine in July.

The fighting continues to displace communities despite military operations. The International Organisation for Migration recorded 5,794 people displaced by attacks or fears of attacks between September 21 and October 13, 2026.

Separately, IOM estimated that Cabo Delgado hosted 449,876 internally displaced people and 673,517 returnees in June 2026. These are distinct population categories measured at an earlier date, not figures to be added to the more recent displacement movements.

The insurgency has also disrupted Mozambique's efforts to develop its offshore gas resources.

TotalEnergies (EPA: TTE; LSE: TTE; NYSE: TTE) suspended construction of its approximately $20bn Mozambique liquefied natural gas (LNG) project following insurgent attacks on Palma in March 2021.

The consortium lifted force majeure in November 2025 and announced the full resumption of construction on January 29, 2026. First LNG production remains targeted for 2029, subject to project execution and security conditions.

Chapo cited regional military cooperation as essential to recovering settlements previously occupied by insurgents.

The Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) deployed in July 2021 and formally closed on July 15, 2024. Rwandan forces continue to support Mozambican security operations, while Tanzanian forces cooperate along the countries' shared border.

According to the president's official account of his Tana Forum address, Chapo acknowledged that attacks and displacement persisted despite the recovery of previously occupied settlements.

He called for stronger regional and continental security cooperation, alongside reform of the United Nations Security Council to give Africa permanent representation and veto rights.