HARARE (Bloomberg) –An insurgency in northeast Mozambique is becoming increasingly complex and poses a threat to security in southern Africa, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said.
“The modus operandi of the terrorist groups and their networks are intricate and elaborate,” Mnangagwa said Tuesday in remarks televised in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. “Radicalization and terrorism is a worrying situation for peace, security and development in our region.”
Mnangagwa spoke at the start of talks attended by the presidents of neighboring Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia. The meeting was held following Mozambique’s request to review an “urgent security situation” in its country, Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo said in a statement.
Mozambique is battling to contain an insurgency militants that have pledged allegiance to Islamic State and who began attacking villages in the northeast in late 2017. In March, fighters overran towns close to an area in which companies including Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. are developing liquefied natural gas projects worth almost $60 billion.
The southeast African nation is banking on the investments to generate nearly $100 billion of state revenue over 25 years, more than seven times its gross domestic product.
