Mozambique: How Cabo Delgado's Riches Became Fuel for the Islamist Insurgency in Mozambique

For almost a decade, an Islamist group has terrorised Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado. Despite vast reserves of rubies, timber and natural gas, the region remains the country's poorest. This first instalment of Mozambique Exposed - an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed - examines how exploitation of the region's wealth, corruption and alleged abuses by security forces helped fuel the insurgency.

Rainy season had already begun in 2017 when thousands of artisanal miners working around Namanhumbir, near Montepuez in the northern Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique, saw security forces approaching.

Many were arrested for what the authorities called illegal mining. Most of the miners, known locally as garimpeiros, came from outside the region.

Some returned to their home districts or crossed into neighbouring southern Tanzania. Others joined a little-known armed group that was gaining strength in northern Mozambique - known locally as Al-Shabab and linked to the Islamic State group (although with no connection to the Somali militant group of the same name).

"From then on, it was war," one miner recalled in a 2021 report by the International Crisis Group, a conflict prevention organisation.

Grievances linked to natural resources became a powerful recruiting tool for the armed group.

Control of natural resources by foreign companies is one of the main themes in Al-Shabab's messaging, according to Joao Feijo, a researcher with the Observatório do Meio Rural, a Mozambican rural affairs research institute.

TotalEnergies in French court accused of failing to limit climate damage

Among Cabo Delgado's most valuable assets are rubies. Deposits discovered in 2009 helped make the province the source of around 80 percent of the world's ruby reserves.

One of the industry's main operators is Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), which received a 25-year concession in 2012, covering 10,000 square kilometres.

MRM is a subsidiary of British mining company Gemfields Limited, owner of luxury brand Fabergé. Twenty-five percent of the company is owned by General Raimundo Pachinuapa, a senior member of Frelimo, Mozambique's ruling party since it gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

In 2019, Gemfields agreed to pay €6.7 million in compensation to miners who dropped legal action accusing the company of human rights violations.

The case was brought in London by law firm Leigh Day on behalf of 273 garimpeiros. It said physical and sexual violence, degrading treatment and killings were carried out by MRM security personnel an