Islamic State Mozambique (ISM) in Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique has been increasingly weakening since the beginning of the year. The deteriorating condition of the group which has been active since 2017 has especially been due to the allied forces in the province as well as the government efforts seeking to restore peace and repatriate internally displaced people back to their homes.
Cases of defections and surrenders by the militants have steadily increased with reports indicating that the group is struggling to both recruit new members as well as dissuade the current members from returning home from the forest.
- Rwanda Defense Forces in Mocimboa da Praia captured several terrorists belonging to the ISM. According to intelligence the militants have been circling villages and were captured after civilians reported the movement of armed men to the allied troops.
- At least three terrorists surrendered to security forces in Mocimboa da Praia. Among them was Buanamade Ali, 30 years old, who Graduated in Accounting and Public Administration, at the Instituto Superior Politécnico de Tete (ISPT).
Following interrogations, Buanamade Ali disclosed that his role in the group was limited to working with the nurses of the terrorist group; reading medication labels in Portuguese, working with computer equipment, transferring digital material to mobile phone cards, controlling phones while they were charging, and registering people going to the cultivation field.
Additionally, Ali gave insight into the lives of the ISM in the forest where he maintains that there is a dire shortage of food and medication, especially for the women and children who end up gathering herbs and small wild animals as food sources. Their supply situation is further worsened by the fact that people have fled their homes.
Thus, it is apparent that the insurgency has significantly lost its power, and capabilities to sustain its people living in the bush, especially in MDP where the government is actively seeking to restore normalcy and encourage the internally displaced people to return home.
