The head of state of Italy, Sergio Mattarela, expressed on Tuesday in Maputo, the commitment of his country to support the populations affected by the armed conflict in the province of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique.

"Thinking especially of the population of Cabo Delgado, which is being victimized and abandoning its regions of origin, we have the duty to accompany them," said the Italian President, quoted by Lusa.

Sergio Mattarela was speaking to the media moments after being received by the Mozambican head of state, Filipe Nyusi, in Maputo, as part of a working visit he is making to the country.

The Italian head of state assures that his country will continue to help Mozambique to face the violent extremism, highlighting Italy's commitment in the framework of the European Union's support to the reconstruction of the affected region and in the training of the Mozambican forces to face the insurgency.

In total, the European Union (EU) intends to apply €65 million this year for development projects in northern Mozambique, including the region affected by terrorism, a package that is part of broader development support for Mozambique for the period 2021-2027, estimated at least €428 million for the first four years.

According to Sergio Mattarela, support to Mozambique for the development of the North and for training the military to fight the insurgency must be taken as a "commitment".

"These are two commitments that are in accordance with Mozambique's needs," stressed the governor.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but terrorized since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

There are 784,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and about 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops with Rwandan support, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has allowed the rebels to recover areas where they had been present, but their flight has provoked new attacks in other districts used as passage or temporary refuge.

Sergio Mattarela is the first Italian head of state to make an official visit to Mozambique.

The visit comes at a time when the Italian oil company Eni is leading the start of natural gas exploration in the Rovuma basin, through a floating platform stationed about 40 kilometers off Cabo Delgado.

The reserves are among the largest in the world, and the only reason there are not yet more projects tapping into them is because of the armed insurgency in the north of the country, which has halted work on land.

In the case of the offshore platform, gas has already started to be pumped for liquefaction and export to start in the coming months.

Italy was in 2020, the date of the most recent official statistics, the main destination for Mozambique's exports to the EU, consisting mainly of aluminum.

On the other side of the scales, Italy was the second EU country (after Portugal) on the list of imports, supplying Mozambique mainly with chemicals and metal parts for infrastructure.