New attacks in Mozambique as South African military company contract ends

Mozambican army soldiers patrol the streets on March 7, 2018 in Mocimboa da Praia, Mozambique.

• There have been new attacks in the northern province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique.
• It happened the same day that Total resumed its liquefied natural gas operations in the area.
• South Africa’s private military company, Dyck Advisory Group, has terminated its 12-month contract in Mozambique.

South African private military company Dyck Advisory Group (DAG) is set to end its involvement in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province as of April 6, Mozambican news site Zitamar News reported.

DAG founder Lionel Dyck confirmed to News24 that the contract has ended.

“We have done 12 months,” he said.

He added that there was no renewal option “yet”, as the Mozambique Defense Armed Forces (FADM) had new equipment.

Zitamar reports that sources claimed the following, air support would be provided by Mozambican military helicopters, which were recently purchased from South Africa-based arms manufacturer Paramount.

These are scheduled to be flown by pilots from Mozambique, trained by Paramount at its Top Gun Pilot Training Academy in Polokwane, and its Dubai-based partner company, Burnham global.

DAG was criticized in a recent Amnesty International report for allegedly firing indiscriminately at insurgents and civilians in the area.

As of yet, no one in the South African government has responded to inquiries about how the DAG is regulated and why it was allowed to operate, despite what is alleged in the report.

Unlike DAG, which was employed by the Interior Ministry to support police operations in Cabo Delgado, Paramount was hired by the Defense Ministry to train Mozambican army pilots and support military operations, Zitamar reported.

There were reports of surprise attacks late Wednesday in and around Palma, which is about 50 kilometers from the border with Tanzania.

Reports from the field said that the insurgents, identified as the local Daesh group, had “new weapons” and that they were not using those stolen from the FADM, as they had in the past.

Hotels, banks, security units and the central camp of the police rapid intervention unit were reportedly attacked, and clashes were reported in the village.

The attacks occurred on the same day that Total announced that its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project will resume construction activities at the Afungi site after it implemented additional security measures.

The company halted its activities after violence broke out near its site in December and the Mozambican government declared the area within a 25km perimeter around Total’s LNG project a “special security area”.

It will be patrolled and secured by the public security forces assigned by the Mozambican defense and interior ministries.

Total said it “does not use the services of any private armed security provider.”

“A comprehensive roadmap has been defined and implemented, which includes the reinforcement of the security infrastructure and the strengthening of the public security forces, which allows a gradual mobilization of the project workforce and the resumption of the activities of construction of the LNG plant, as well as the community development programs carried out outside by the project, “it said in a statement.

More than 600,000 people have fled the upsurge in violence since last year, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement this week.

“This has contributed to the overwhelming of services, including medical care,” he said.

The violence in Cabo Delgado began shortly after the discovery of natural gas off the coast.

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