Analysts say that the statements by the Inspector General of the Ministry of National Defense, Víctor Muiriquele, that challenges remain in identifying the financiers of the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, show that Mozambique does not yet have the capacity to deal with the problem, and they advocate building the capacity of its intelligence.

"It is important to recognize that it is a challenge to identify the financiers of terrorism in Mozambique," said the Mozambican armed forces officer.

Quoted by VOA, the director of the Institute for Economic and Social Studies of Mozambique (IESE), Sebastião Forquilha, says that from the beginning, it was clear that the country did not have the capacity to deal with terrorism in Cabo Delgado, "because this is a complex phenomenon, and requires an internal capacity for production and management of information, as well as strong institutions to meet the challenge, which was clearly not our case.

He also said that it took a long time for the Mozambican state to publicly recognize that it was facing a problem linked to terrorism of a jihadist nature, "as well as the operations on the ground did not reflect the complexity of the phenomenon itself.

For the researcher of the International Institute for Security Studies, Borges Nhamirre, it is difficult to identify the financiers of terrorism, because they are the heart of this phenomenon.

"The types of funding are various, and can be voluntary contributions from people living in the society, and in the case of Cabo Delgado, can result from illicit activities such as trafficking of rubies, wood, among others, stressed that researcher.

He added that even if the government had identified the financiers, it would never present them to the public, it would always try to neutralize them, "because from the moment they are presented to the public, they change their action strategy.

Nhamirre added that, in light of this problem, the United Nations published a report last week profiling the financiers, noting that the Mozambican authorities have also been doing so.

"I heard last week the General Commander of the Police say that the insurgents are financed by ruby money; theoretically it is possible because we have in Cabo Delgado an underworld of exploitation of rubies, which are taken from the forests, are sold to foreigners, many of them living in Montepuez, and therefore the probability of this money resulting from the illegal sale of rubies, is very high," he pointed out.

According to that researcher, it's not just rubies, it's all natural resources that are easy to extract, gold for example, that are subject to artisanal mining, as well as drug trafficking, in addition to exemptions to illegal traders, whose money is not known what its destination is.

He mentioned that this happens because the territorial coverage of the Mozambican state is reduced, besides the fact that the Mozambican borders are porous, which is why drug trafficking takes place, being smuggled on the high seas and brought to the coast by fishermen.

Borges Nhamirre pointed out that "in addition, we can also talk about interests of people who have the ability to manipulate the state, that is, even if they have some resources, there are influential people who can manipulate the state, as is the case of the Party in power, whose illicit business is not subject to state oversight."

He defends that facing the problem, the Mozambican state has to improve its intelligence and it has to cooperate with other countries, mainly Tanzania, South Africa among others.

"In addition to improving their internal intelligence, also to reduce the level of corruption, because in Mozambique, any state official can be corrupted easily, and that neutralizes the intelligence of the state itself," Nhamirre said.