Mozambique, a fragile African country in the Indian Ocean, facing challenges from drug trafficking, terrorism, and transnational organized crime

Abstract

The ongoing insurgency in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, started in 2017. The conflict is largely fought between radicalised militant Islamists attempting to establish an Islamic state in the region, and the Mozambican security forces. The insurgents have taken control of various districts and coastal areas in Cabo Delgado province, causing over 4,000 deaths, and displacing around 800,000 people. The area is rich in oil, gas, gemstones as well as an entry point of narcotic drugs (heroin from Afghanistan) and illicit traffic of local wildlife and forestry products to Asian markets. Despite the involvement of foreign troops at the request of the Mozambican government, the civil war
continues. Cabo Delgado is the poorest and remotest province of Mozambique. The main struggles now are political, revolving around money, corruption, the
causes of the war, who can fight, and if the gas projects can resume. This is the first time a country in the Southern Africa region experiences this challenge. In
this context UNODC was invited to open a new office which took place under my leadership spearheading technical assistance to the country. A cooperation roadmap was agreed with the government to promote international and regional cooperation to combat transnational organised crime, corruption, antinarcotics, counter terrorism and to enhance maritime security.