Armed men linked to ISIS entered a mosque in northern Mozambique’s Mocimboa da Praia last month and ordered residents to gather and demanded the key, according to the mosque’s imam.The group unfurled an ISIS banner after taking control of the mosque’s microphone, signaling a renewed presence in the area. The incident comes as jihadist activity has risen following the collapse of US aid funding to Mozambique.“When they called everyone over, as soon as they saw that flag, a colleague and I left, saying we needed the toilet,” Sumail Issa was quoted as saying by CNN. He added that he subsequently went to notify the military. Video footage posted on social media shows residents recording the event rather than fleeing, highlighting the group’s ability to move through the area without challenge.Mozambique’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado region has endured eight years of conflict marked by killings and land seizures. Insurgents held the coastal town of Mocimboa da Praia from August 2020 to August 2021, causing widespread displacement and destruction. In the years that followed, Mozambican and Rwandan forces, deployed at Maputo’s request, reestablished a measure of stability as Western governments expanded aid efforts. Many displaced residents returned during this period. That progress has since been disrupted by the rollback of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), after an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in January cut some programs entirely and sharply reduced others, including initiatives intended to strengthen the government’s reach and counter extremist influence.ISIS-linked violence has intensified across Africa, which accounted for 79 percent of the group’s global activity between January and October, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).In Mozambique, ISIS operations reached their highest level in October, with the country representing 11 percent of the group’s worldwide violent incidents, ACLED reported.
Dependence on USAID
Mozambique, where more than half the population lives below the poverty line and the median age is 17, had relied heavily on USAID support. In 2024, the agency provided $586 million in assistance, equivalent to roughly 3 percent of the country’s GDP. When USAID was shut down, it still had more than $2.4 billion in active or planned programs, which had funded emergency food distribution, water and sanitation projects, education initiatives and local governance support. Funding for HIV/AIDS treatment was also included and continues in reduced form, estimated at about $160 million, as cited by CNN. USAID programs in Cabo Delgado additionally focused on limiting ISIS recruitment. In Mocimboa da Praia, two grants backed initiatives for motorcycle taxi drivers and fishermen, sectors where poverty and limited opportunities have made young men vulnerable to recruitment, according to USAID assessments.“The abrupt end of USAID programs … opened the door for insurgents to act with greater freedom and impunity,” a former senior USAID official was quoted as saying by CNN.
