The new report on religious freedom by the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) foundation considers the prospects for Mozambique to be "disastrous" due to the armed violence in Cabo Delgado.

"The outlook for religious freedom continues to be disastrous," reads the chapter dedicated to Mozambique, the only Portuguese-speaking country marked on the map of violations of the free activity of religions in the 2023 report.

"Despite the reduced capacity of the Islamic State-Mozambique to carry out major attacks", the extremist group "remains operational and continues its deadly attacks", which means that religious freedom is "seriously threatened due to permanent insecurity".

Christians and Muslims are targeted, the report notes.

The ACN Foundation, a Catholic organization, also points out as a "cause for concern" the "risk of the Islamic State-Mozambique spreading to neighbouring countries, namely Tanzania".

"Although Christian and Muslim leaders continue to denounce violence and promote interfaith dialogue," the report considers that this "will be insufficient if the underlying social and economic inequalities affecting young people, especially in the poorest regions, are not addressed."

"This is especially true in the northern provinces, where international companies extract enormous resource wealth with minimal benefits for the local economy and populations, fostering a vicious cycle of poverty, frustration and violence," he concludes.

In the executive summary, the overall situation in Mozambique is covered in a paragraph entitled "rise of opportunistic caliphates".

"Gradually, they moved from the conquest and defense of fixed territories to 'hit and run' attacks with the aim of creating isolated communities in poorly defended rural areas," the document describes.

"Islamist violence is present throughout Africa, but the main theaters of `jihadist' activity are concentrated in the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin, Somalia and Mozambique," he adds. (RTP)