Mozambique & Cabo Delgado: Gas, God & Guns

← The Aftermath

Mozambique & Cabo Delgado

Gas, God & Guns

In 2010, one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves was discovered off the coast of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province. Within seven years, an Islamist insurgency had erupted in the same region. The timing is not coincidental. When the ground beneath a poor community becomes extraordinarily valuable, the community rarely benefits. What follows is almost always displacement — by violence, by development, or by both.

The Colonial Root

Mozambique was colonized by Portugal from the late 15th century until 1975 — nearly 500 years of extraction. Portuguese colonial policy was among the most exploitative on the continent: forced labor (chibalo) was practiced until the 1960s, education was deliberately withheld, and at independence Mozambique had a literacy rate of approximately 7%. Portugal left behind almost no trained administrators, doctors, or engineers.

Independence in 1975 was followed immediately by a civil war (1977–1992) between the Frelimo government and Renamo — a rebel group backed by apartheid Rhodesia and South Africa to destabilize a newly independent socialist state. The war killed an estimated 1 million people and displaced 5 million. Mozambique entered the post-war era as one of the poorest countries on earth, with infrastructure in ruins and institutions barely formed.

The Insurgency: Ansar al-Sunna (Al-Shabaab)

Beginning in October 2017, an Islamist militant group locally known as Al-Shabaab (unrelated to the Somali group) — formally Ansar al-Sunna — began attacking villages, police posts, and government facilities in Cabo Delgado. The group has since been linked to ISIS. Its rise is rooted in the profound marginalization of Cabo Delgado’s predominantly Muslim, Makonde and Mwani-speaking population — historically neglected by the southern-dominated Frelimo government and excluded from the economic benefits of the gas discovery.

The March 2021 attack on Palma — a town adjacent to TotalEnergies’ $20 billion LNG project — shocked the world. Dozens were killed. Thousands fled. TotalEnergies declared force majeure and suspended operations. The attack demonstrated that the insurgency had the capacity to threaten the largest private investment in African history.

As of May 2026: Rwandan forces and the Southern African Development Community Mission (SAMIM) have helped the Mozambican military recapture key towns including Mocímboa da Praia. TotalEnergies has announced a phased resumption of the LNG project. The insurgency has not been defeated — it has dispersed into rural areas. Nearly 1 million people remain displaced.

The Gas & Who Benefits

The Rovuma Basin gas fields are estimated to hold 180 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — enough to make Mozambique one of the world’s top LNG exporters. The project is led by TotalEnergies (France), with partners including ExxonMobil (US), ENI (Italy), and CNPC (China). The Mozambican government will receive royalties and tax revenues — but the terms of the production sharing agreements, negotiated when Mozambique had little leverage, are widely criticized as unfavorable.

The communities of Cabo Delgado — who live on the land above the gas — have been displaced to make way for the project’s infrastructure. They were not consulted in any meaningful way. They will not receive a meaningful share of the revenues. This is the colonial pattern, updated for the 21st century: the resource is discovered, the foreign corporation arrives, the local community is moved.

Key Facts

  • Portugal colonized Mozambique for nearly 500 years. Literacy at independence: ~7%.
  • The post-independence civil war (1977–1992) killed 1 million and displaced 5 million.
  • The Cabo Delgado insurgency began in 2017; linked to ISIS since 2019.
  • The Palma attack (March 2021) halted TotalEnergies’ $20 billion LNG project.
  • Nearly 1 million people are displaced in Cabo Delgado as of May 2026.
  • Rwandan forces and SAMIM have helped stabilize key areas; the insurgency persists rurally.
  • TotalEnergies is resuming the LNG project. Local communities remain displaced.

NZETE: The Beacon

The people of Cabo Delgado did not ask for gas beneath their feet. They asked for schools, hospitals, roads, and the right to live in peace on their ancestral land. What they received was displacement, violence, and a front-row seat to a $20 billion project that will enrich foreign shareholders while they live in camps.

NZETE names this. We refuse the narrative that frames resource extraction as development. True development is when the people who live on the land are the first to benefit from it. Africa’s resources belong to Africa’s people — all of them, not just those with the right connections or the right passport.

We are one continent. What happens in Cabo Delgado happens to all of us. Stand with them. Wear the standard.

Shop MenShop Women

Sources: UNHCR, ACLED, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Global Witness, TotalEnergies public disclosures, The Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Last reviewed: May 2026.