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Kuwait Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Jihadist attacks hit Mozambique
MAPUTO: A series of attacks in northern Mozambique this month point to a resurgence of violence by Islamic State-linked militants as energy giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume a major gas project, analysts say. The group terrorized northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate. TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee. The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October. But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second. A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces. Dramatic strikes There were two dramatic strikes earlier — a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighboring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers. Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by 'pirates', according to local media. 'Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area,' said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project. 'The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers,' said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis. 'There's more visible activity in the region and that's an incentive for attacks'. 'Propaganda effect' Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year. The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said. TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had 'greatly improved' although there were 'sporadic incidents'. The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest. ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing. Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements. The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado 'allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province,' said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity. The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for 'propaganda effect', said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals. Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence. 'More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks,' the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week. This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017. 'The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable,' said UNHCR's Mozambique representative Xavier Creach. In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings. More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled. — AFP
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jihadist attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project
A series of attacks in northern Mozambique this month point to a resurgence of violence by Islamic State-linked militants as energy giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume a major gas project, analysts say. The group terrorised northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate. TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee. The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October. But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second. A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces. - Dramatic strikes - There were two dramatic strikes earlier -- a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighbouring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers. Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by "pirates", according to local media. "Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area," said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project. "The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers," said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis. "There's more visible activity in the region and that's an incentive for attacks". - 'Propaganda effect' - Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year. The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said. TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had "greatly improved" although there were "sporadic incidents". The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest. ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing. Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements. The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado "allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province," said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity. The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for "propaganda effect", said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals. Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence. "More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week. This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017. "The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable," said UNHCR's Mozambique representative Xavier Creach. In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings. More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled. strs-clv/ho-br/ach
Int'l Business Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Jihadist Attacks Hit Mozambique As Total Readies To Resume Gas Project
A series of attacks in northern Mozambique this month point to a resurgence of violence by Islamic State-linked militants as energy giant TotalEnergies prepares to resume a major gas project, analysts say. The group terrorised northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate. TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee. The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October. But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second. A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces. There were two dramatic strikes earlier -- a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighbouring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers. Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by "pirates", according to local media. "Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area," said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project. "The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers," said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis. "There's more visible activity in the region and that's an incentive for attacks". Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year. The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said. TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had "greatly improved" although there were "sporadic incidents". The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest. ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing. Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements. The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado "allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province," said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity. The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for "propaganda effect", said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals. Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence. "More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week. This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017. "The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable," said UNHCR's Mozambique representative Xavier Creach. In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings. More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled. Rwandan soldiers were deployed to quell the violence in northern Mozambique AFP More than 1.3 million have been displaced in Mozambique since the conflict began AFP
France 24
3 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Jihadist attacks hit Mozambique as Total readies to resume gas project
The group terrorised northern Mozambique for years before brazenly vowing in 2020 to turn the northern gas-rich Cabo Delgado province into a caliphate. TotalEnergies paused a multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas project there in 2021 following a wave of bloody raids that forced more than a million people to flee. The insurgency was pushed to the background by a months-long unrest that followed elections in October. But there has been a new wave of violence. In May, the Islamists attacked two military installations, claiming to kill 11 soldiers in the first and 10 in the second. A security expert confirmed the first attack and put the toll at 17. There was no comment from the Mozambican security forces. Dramatic strikes There were two dramatic strikes earlier -- a raid on a wildlife reserve in the neighbouring Niassa province late April killed at least two rangers, while an ambush in Cabo Delgado claimed the lives of three Rwandan soldiers. Also unusual was a thwarted attack on a Russian oceanographic vessel in early May that the crew said in a distress message was launched by "pirates", according to local media. "Clearly there is a cause and effect because some actions correspond exactly to important announcements in the gas area," said Fernando Lima, a researcher with the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory which monitors violence in Mozambique, referring to the $4.7 billion funding approved in mid-March by the US Export-Import Bank for the long-delayed gas project. "The insurgents are seeing more vehicles passing by with white project managers," said Jean-Marc Balencie of the French-based political and security risk group Attika Analysis. "There's more visible activity in the region and that's an incentive for attacks". - 'Propaganda effect' - Conflict tracker ACLED recorded at least 80 attacks in the first four months of the year. The uptick was partly due to the end of the rainy season which meant roads were once again passable, it said. TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said last Friday that the security situation had "greatly improved" although there were "sporadic incidents". The attack that stalled the TotalEnergies project in 2021 occurred in the port town of Palma and lasted several days, sending thousands fleeing into the forest. ACLED estimated that more than 800 civilians and combatants were killed while independent journalist Alex Perry reported after an investigation that more than 1,400 were dead or missing. Rwandan forces deployed alongside the Mozambique military soon afterwards, their number increasing to around 5,000, based on Rwandan military statements. The concentration of forces in Cabo Delgado "allows insurgents to easily conduct operations in Niassa province," said a Mozambican military officer on condition of anonymity. The raid on the tourist wildlife lodge straddling Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces was for "propaganda effect", said Lima, as it grabbed more international media attention than hits on local villages that claim the lives of locals. Strikes on civilians, with several cases of decapitation reported, often fall under the radar because of the remoteness of the impoverished region and official silence. "More than 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique within a few weeks," the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week. This was in addition to the 1.3 million the UN said in November had been displaced since the conflict began in 2017. "The renewed intensity of the conflict affects regions previously considered rather stable," said UNHCR's Mozambique representative Xavier Creach. In Niassa, for example, about 2,085 people fled on foot after an attack on Mbamba village late April where women reported witnessing beheadings. More than 6,000 people have died in the conflict since it erupted, according to Acled. © 2025 AFP
Mint
24-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Trump Moves to Expedite Deep-Sea Mining for Critical Minerals
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order intended to expedite offshore mining and open new opportunities for extracting critical materials from the ocean floor despite the objections of environmentalists. Trump's measure, signed Thursday, directs the Commerce Department to speed up reviewing and issuing permits for exploration and commercial recovery under a 1980 law, according to senior White House officials who briefed reporters on the action. While the permits could cover territory far beyond the US Outer Continental Shelf, the president is also setting in motion potential seabed mining within US coastal waters. Under Trump's order, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is charged with establishing a process for approving permits and granting licenses for seabed mining in US waters, under the same law that has long governed oil drilling there. The president is also ordering a raft of reports, including a study of using the US National Defense Stockpile for minerals contained within sea deposits and an assessment of private-sector interest in the activity. Environmentalists are seeking stiffer international regulation of deep-sea mining, warning that the activity could imperil key marine habitats and the organisms that live on the ocean bottom. The order directs the US International Development Finance Corporation and the US Export-Import Bank to study options for providing financing and other support for exploration, extraction, processing and environmental monitoring of seabed resources. Trump's directive comes amid increasing concern over new Chinese curbs on the export of rare-earth materials used in electric vehicle batteries, smartphones and other technology, a response to Trump's tariffs. China's moves have generated worries about obtaining alternate supplies for the metals given the country's dominance in mining and refining them. Earlier: Deep-Sea Mining Race Amps Up as Rules Still Up in the Air Deep-sea mining is seen by the administration as another avenue for extracting rare-earth elements such as manganese, cobalt, nickel and copper, helping wean the US off foreign suppliers and opening new export opportunities. Over 10 years, a seabed mineral extraction industry could yield 100,000 jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic benefits, one of the White House officials said. Mining advocates have warned that without action, the US and allies risk forfeiting seabed mineral extraction to China. In a report earlier this month, RAND estimated that production from seabed mining would decrease metal prices and could produce enough nickel and cobalt to meet projected US demand in 2040. The materials are essential ingredients in lithium-ion batteries. With assistance from Todd Woody and Joe Deaux. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. First Published: 25 Apr 2025, 03:27 AM IST
