Dozens of soldiers clutching AK-47s and grenade launchers watch over roaring bulldozers on the white sand beach that meets a tropical turquoise sea. They’re guarding a $23bn project to export Mozambique’s natural gas from an area besieged by Islamist insurgents.
Militants who first pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2018 have carried out brazen attacks this year. Last week they raided Mocimboa da Praia for a third time and occupied the town for as long as three days. It’s a crucial supply hub just 60km south of the project site and the closest port. The private military company that Mozambique hired in April to provide air support to government troops in the form of helicopters fitted with machine guns has struggled to quell the violence. Lionel Dyck, the founder of Dyck Advisory Group, the firm the government employed, declined to comment when contacted by mobile phone.
For the second time, Islamic State referred directly to the projects in a weekly newsletter this month. The group said it would be “delusional” to think that the government could protect the investments, and warned other countries against getting involved.
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