Residents of Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado have started rebuilding their lives after operations by Rwandan and Mozambican security forces that purged Islamic State-linked insurgents in the area. In the coastal districts of Palma and Mocimboa da Praia, which used to be strongholds of the Ansar al Sunnah wal Jama’a terror group, life has returned to normal. For half a decade, the Islamist group had paralysed the province and killed more than 4,000 people and displacing hundreds of thousands. At the request of the Mozambican government, Rwanda deployed troops to Cabo Delgado in July 2021. Joint operations by Rwandan and Mozambican forces have seen between 250,000 and 300,000 people return to their homes. The Mozambican army says 90-95 per cent of the terrorist-affected areas are now secure, with the movement of people and goods between the town off the coast of the Indian ocean back. Locals in Palma and Mocimboa da Praia have returned to their daily economic activities such as fishing and farming. Banking and financial services as well as hotels have reopened in the coastal towns.
