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El gráfico muestra una mina de rubíes y un yacimiento de gas natural en el norte de Mozambique.
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CONFLICTO

Rebeldes sitian ciudad en en el norte de Mozambique

By Duncan Mil

March 29, 2021 - Los combates entre rebeldes islamistas y tropas del ejército en la ciudad sitiada de Palma han cobrado las vidas de decenas de civiles. Desde 2017, los insurgentes han matado a 2.600 personas mientras que más de 670.000 han huido de sus hogares.

Discoveries of the world’s largest ruby deposits and a vast natural gas field in the Cabo Delgado region raised hopes of jobs and a better life for many local people. Despite the investment of $20 billion in the Total-Exxon Mobil gas project, extreme poverty remains.

Now desperation in Cabo Delgado has fuelled an Islamist insurgency that has complicated efforts to develop the gas field.

Since 2014, impoverished young people in Cabo Delgado have turned to radical Islam imported from Tanzania and Somalia. A religious movement, Ansar al-Sunna, first appeared in 2015. The group -- which is known locally as al-Shabab -- became violent in October 2017, attacking the town and port of Mocimboa da Praia.

Ansar al-Sunna has since claimed responsibility for many of the attacks carried out in Mozambique, including brutal beheadings and massacres.

Now the government in Maputo has appealed to the United States for help. On March 10, Washington designated al-Shabab as a “foreign terrorist organisation,” describing it as an Islamic State-affiliate.

“U.S. special operations forces will support Mozambique’s efforts to prevent the spread of terrorism and violent extremism,” the U.S. embassy in Mozambique said on March 15.

Portugal -- the former colonial power in Mozambique -- will also send 60 personnel to train the military.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 29/03/2021; STORY: Graphic News
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