Mocimboa da Praia, a port city in northeastern Mozambique with a population of 127,000, had become a strategic holdout for the jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado province.
In one of Al-Shaabab’s first attacks in the country on 5 October 2017, Mocimboa da Praia was targeted and then occupied for 48 hours. The jihadists only took possession of it on 12 August 2020.
“A significant breakthrough for the Rwandan army”
The key rebel stronghold – located south of the Afungi peninsula, home to a gas mega project operated by French oil major TotalEnergies – was recaptured a year later. The breakthrough occurred a month after the Rwandan armed forces arrived in Mozambique.
“The fall of Mocimboa da Praia change[d] a lot of things, because it was an insurgent stronghold,” says Colonel Ronald Rwivanga, RDF’s spokesman. “Because it was a port town, many supplies passed through it, which helped their
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