Insurgents attacked the villages of Nampanha and Mandela in the Muidumbe district of Cabo Delgado province on 9 and 10 August, beheading at least two civilians and burning potentially dozens of homes. The first attack took place around the village of Nampanha in the Nambayaya area, approximately 15km from the district capital. A local source told Zitamar that two men were beheaded. News website Carta de Moçambique reported that the insurgent group did not number more than 20 men and that they kidnapped a woman before withdrawing back into the bush. Insurgents struck again the next day, entering Mandela village…

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday launched a plan aimed at boosting the slowing economy, including by cutting VAT from 17% to 16% as part of 20 reform measures. Nyusi said that the plan, styled the “package of measures for economic acceleration” or “PAE”, was not aimed at reversing the current high cost of living,...

Insurgents attacked the villages of Nkoe and Quinto Congresso in Cabo Delgado province’s Macomia district on 12 and 13 July, battling with security forces and claiming to have killed one soldier in each attack. On 13 July, insurgents fought a group of government security forces at Quinto Congresso, approximately 20km north of Macomia district headquarters,...

Mozambique’s petroleum sector authorities will launch a consultation with oil companies next month to gauge interest in a new round of exploration blocks, following the signing of exploration and production concession contracts (EPCCs) for the fifth round blocks which is due next week. Mozambique’s petroleum regulator, INP, plans to start the process of ‘nomination’ –...

The governor of Tete province, Paulo Auade, has urged the local community around a Chinese-controlled gold mine to collaborate with the mining company, in spite of the death of a mine worker and the discovery of illegal mining and other violations. Auade described the gold mine at Cassossole as an “oxygen cylinder” for the community,...

Around 3000 Mozambican refugees who fled to Malawi during violence between Frelimo and Renamo in 2016 are due to return to Mozambique by the end of this year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  “We don’t expect to still have Mozambican refugees in Malawi in 2019,” UNHCR representative Hans Lunshof told...

UPDATE, 14 JUNE 2018: The police in Pemba said on Wednesday evening that reports of an armed attack on a supermarket in the town earlier that day were a false alarm. ——————————————– Police in the Mozambican city of Pemba say an armed attack on a shopping centre today is not related to a wave of terrorist...