The Center for Public Integrity (CIP) reports that insurgent attacks in the districts of Cabo Delgado province increased in October due to the post-election protests in Maputo.

Attacks were reported in Awasse, in the district of Mocímboa da Praia, where three people died on October 23. The following day, in the same district, they attacked the village of Mumu. On October 26, three bodies were found on the banks of the Messalo River in the Macomia district with signs of beheading. On October 29, a vehicle carrying passengers and cargo detonated an explosive device at the Mbau administrative post, south of Mocímboa da Praia. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State.

"The upward trend in attacks continued in November, with an average of at least one attack every two days," reads an NGO publication.

This month, in the village of Manica, in Macomia, insurgents attacked Rwandan soldiers; two citizens were captured in the village of Mandela, in the district of Muidumbe; in the village of Mbau, in Mocímboa da Praia, there were attacks and houses were set on fire; the village of Tabata, in the district of Muidumbe, was attacked; in Muidumbe, the Local Force was attacked.

"During this period, there were also signs of insurgent movements into the southern region of Cabo Delgado province. On November 7, insurgents climbed into the village of Minhanha, in Meluco district, where they kidnapped three teenage girls and looted food. Minhanha is a village located along the Messalo river, in the district of Meluco, in central Cabo Delgado," he says.

In the current political context, for CIP, the escalation of terrorist violence in Cabo Delgado was already predictable, considering what happened in 2019. 

According to CIP, the attention on an alleged coup has focused on Maputo, leaving Cabo Delgado vulnerable.

"As the government had not foreseen post-election violence of the magnitude witnessed between October 21 and November 7, it was forced to move human resources and equipment from Cabo Delgado to Maputo in order to stop the coup d'état or the seizure of power by unconstitutional means," writes CIP, quoting the Minister of National Defense, Cristóvão Chume.

The NGO says that the insurgents have taken advantage of this "lack of control" in Cabo Delgado to intensify their attacks. They carried out several incursions against military and civilian targets, including the use of improvised explosive devices.