Economic and security impacts of the Cabo Delgado conflict in Mozambique

How the Conflict in Mozambique Impacted the Country 1. A detailed background of the conflict. Indicate clearly the conflicting issue(s) and the conflicting parties. In the background trace in stages how the conflict evolved and developed into the current manifestation.
The conflict in Cabo Delgado has become both polarizing and contentious issue. Here the province of Cabo Delgado has been rife with conflict for many years. Many of these conflicts have arisen due to territorial disputes, antagonistic behavior for natural resources, and even economic unrest. Since 2017, the province has been ravaged by conflict related to black Islamic state operatives. Here, many are denouncing the ruling party of Frente de Libertação de Moçambique. To do so, these operatives would target various security posts or other economically viable stations throughout the country. The idea behind the conflict was to cripple the economic stability of the country first. Then, once weakened, the Islamic state would then attack individual towns and cities within the country. The concept behind this cadence is that many provinces throughout Mozambique as very fragile economically. By attacking these provinces, the economic stability of the nation overall is threatened. This ultimately creates a cascading affect where economic depression, often leads to a loss of jobs and income. This loss of jobs and income can disproportionately impact all residents with the Cabo Delgado province. This also places a strain on required and basic resources such as food, medical supplies, and shelter. The economic disturbance is further exacerbated by increases in inflation that could further undermine the overall economic stability of Mozambique. Here the purchasing power of residents further declines in the midst of an economic contraction and recession. This only exacerbates an already fragile economic environment within the Mozambique region. In this instance, not only is the country experiencing an economic decline to internal strife and unrest, but the resulting loss of purchasing power makes it even more difficult for consumers to properly recover from an attack. The lack of purchasing power, combined with the scarcity of natural resources including food, medical supplies, and other necessities puts further economic pressure on residents. This pressure can eventually lead to internal unrest as residents take matters into their own hand via violence or criminal activity. Thus, the attacked on economic institutions by black Islamic State supports is used as both a short term and long-term attack on all the residents of Mozambique (Darch, 2016).
For 18 months after the attack, ISIS further increased their raids on town and nearby cities resulting in civilian casualties as well. This unrest caused nearly hundreds of thousands of Mozambique residents to flee their homes and their jobs in fear of their lives. Again, this created further unrest as now, Mozambique does not have an adequate labor force to propel its economy. It no longer possesses, the labor potential necessary to support an economy due to a large number of residents fleeing the country in response to ISIS attacks. Further, in order to respond to these attacks, the government must invest heavily in military support, putting still further pressure on the countries currency. The country for example has experience very rapid inflation over the past decade rising on average 10% per year. This extreme devaluation coupled with an exodus of residents has created a very adverse economy circumstance for the people of Mozambique (Fabricus, 2018).
Other nations looking to invest in the asset rich nation have failed to do so due in part to the political and economic unrest. For example, both American and European multinationals have stopped multi-billion investments in the countries infrastructure due to fears of a military conflict damaging their assets and investment. Likewise, countries have also become fearful of Mozambique nationalizing their interests in the nation as the government looks for methods to help stem the negative political and economic environment befalling the country. Essentially, Mozambique and its Muslim-dominated province of Cabo Delgado has become the next frontier a protracted jihadist rebellion.
The conflicts described above have been occurring since 2007. The cause was a denunciation of the local religious leaders that where close to the official Muslim council. Here, many of the Islamic militants pushed for backward looking reforms such as banning alcohol, eliminating the ability for children to enroll in school, and eliminating the ability for women to work. These militants were also heavily resistant to the involvement of many of the businesses interest and entities within the country. Here, Mozambican residents along with Tanzanians have attacked the overall weak military and security forces in Mozambique. Here the combined military force not only defeated the security forces but also attacked nearby towns and cities as discussed above. Interestingly, the terrorist organizations group’s rank and file are primarily Mozambicans, including poor fishermen, frustrated petty traders, former farmers and unemployed youth. This is a direct consequence of the adverse economic circumstances detailed above. Due to poor economic conditions many internal residents have turned to revolting as means of garnering the resources and commitment they need to survive. Here, most of the group are looking to assert power and benefit form the theft of already scared resources within the country (Faleg, 2019).
The country itself is unable to appropriate respond as the uprising becomes larger. For one the, the military force of the country has significantly shrunk since the 1992 peace deal associated with an internal civil war. The small military resources that are available have be confiscated for the militant groups scattered throughout the country, resulting in scarce military armaments to properly defend the country. As its military stockpiles have been plundered, it is very difficult, to properly defend the nation for unsuspecting terrorist attacks. In addition, the military personnel themselves are spread thin, due to the need to guarantee safety of the capital city. Under pressure to respond to the Cabo Delgado crisis, Nyusi dispatched elite paramilitary police units with air support from a South African private military company. The attack was somewhat successful as the militant group advancement towards the capital city was halted. However, the attack did not neutralize the combatants.
Mozambique, has since looked to foreign parties assistance and aid related to their military. Here, the government needed foreign aid in an effort to prop up its military personnel to defend itself against terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, many allies in the west where unable to support this ask due in part to the culture of corruption within Mozambique. Here, the military has been known to take these armaments and leak them to militants. The country has also been known to use this item against the population as a form of abuse. Southern African Development Community (SADC) states, however saw the Cabo Delgado’s conflict as endangering the security of their own countries. Here, all member states are attempting to develop a coalition designed to help stop the uprising in Mozambique. In addition, they are also seeking to build international support to deploy their own troops into Mozambique to add in the mitigation efforts. This issue was fairly difficult for Nyusi for a number of reasons. First, he was concerned about the ability to control so many different military groups operating within his country. Likewise, he was concerned with bad intentions on the part of the country looking to use his land to expand their own influence in heroin and sex trafficking. Nearly 4 years later in 2021, the Mozambique conflict still rages on. Here Nyusi has allows regional players to help assist in the efforts of stopping and mitigating the threat of the military troops. Due in part to the severe displacement of residents of Mozambique, the large economic consequences, the continued growth of power from these militant groups, Nyusi has decided to allow foreign aid from rival territories. Cabo Delgado’s population craves safety and wants the security forces to act, petrified that otherwise they could end up abducted or killed. Likewise the economy needs the uprising to stop so that stability can enter the country allowing it to flourish.

2. Identify concepts and theories that under pin the conflict.
The first major theory that underpins the conflict is that of religious thoughts and freedom. Here Mozambique is largely a Muslim community. Here, radical Islam has opposed many on the political and economic innovations within the country. As noted above, the conflict is a response related disagreement with religious beliefs. These disagreements between Islamic denominations active in a Muslin denominated country has created political tension. Here, the emergence of other conflicting religions has caused a large amount of political and religious unrest within the various communities within the country. The religious intolerance between members in the country has escalated to violence which ultimately underpinned the conflict within the country.
Economic poverty has also been a large catalyst underpinning the conflict. Here, corruption and large-scale smuggling has harmed economic prosperity within the country. Here the integrity of the capital and economic markers was consistently undermined by religious and political leaders. The ability of religious and political leaders to consistently exploit the economic prosperity of others for their own benefit created further conflict within the country. This conflict was exacerbated by the deteriorating fortunes of residents within the Mozambique community. As noted above, large amounts of inflation rapidly deteriorated the value of the Mozambique currency. Likewise, smuggling and corruption, enriched the elite within the community at the expense of the poor and middle class. For example, Mozambique is rich in natural resources such as oil, natural gas, timber, gold, copper, titanium and iron. Many of these resources are highly desired by foreign entities and parties looking to expand their own infrastructure initiatives. For example both American and China are looking to increase their investment in technology and infrastructure. Large amounts of natural resources are required to meet the increase in demand, much of which Mozambique has. Historically, international trade had been an economic boon for the country. However, due to elites often using foreign trade to smuggle and embezzle valuable resources, the economic system of Mozambique had been undermined (Haysom, 2018).
The overall political corruption within the county has ultimately created a lack of trust from the residents of Mozambique as it relates to leaderships ability to course correct the country. As noted above, high inflation, high poverty rates, high corruption, and low future economic prospects have emboldened militant groups throughout the country. They have used the economic unrest to cause further problems within the ability of the country to leverage the resources it has to prop up the economy. For instance, the militant groups have attacked strategic outposts in an effort to drive up scarcity of vital natural resources throughout the country. This scarcity has ultimately resulted in further extending poverty throughout the nation. With higher poverty and lack of clear oversight, increased conflict emerges.

3. Identify the relevant conflict management styles (if applicable) employed in the conflict and use the appropriate conflict management tools that should enable you proffer recommendations for resolving the conflict. Give reference to conflict analysis findings.
The first conflict management style used here was collaboration. Here Mozambique required collaboration on the part of surrounding nations and other foreign aid to help stop the terrorist attacks. Here, the collaboration element includes help related to scare supplies such as food, water, and medical equipment. Likewise collaboration required a concerted effort to help provide military armaments and personnel to help defend the nation from attack. In addition, Mozambique must collaborate with its citizens in order enable them to self-police the terrorists within the nation. This will include establishing proper communication channels to help Mozambique intelligence know when and where the next attack will occur. This will also provide intelligence as to what tools the terrorist is using and proper methods in which to counter them while minimizing the loss of human life. Through collaboration, other neighboring nations are also happy as they help to avoid damage to their neighboring territories. With overwhelming force, proper communication channels, and proper line of authority, the people of Mozambique can stop this internal insurrection (Lee, 2019).

4. Evaluate the responsibilities of organizations such as UN AU and sun regional organizations as well as allied countries in the conflict.
The united nations and other sun regional organizations have a vested interest in stopping these militant groups. For one, these groups are being empowered through recent victories throughout the country. These victories only embolden these organizations to further torment and harm incent communities and civilians. By undermining the basic underpinnings of society, these actions embolden others to engage in similar activity. Soon, these once small militant groups are now able to recruit and deploy hundreds of thousands of armed men and women. By allowing these militant groups to grow and take power unabated, they are allowing economic unrest to continue. To set an example for the world, the united nations and the sun regional organizations must look to eliminate these terrorist threats immediately and swiftly. This will first send a message that the United Nations stand behind countries who are victims of terrorist attacks designed to cause political and economic instability.
Likewise the values that many of the militant groups believe in run counter to those of the world. These militant groups, under the guise of religion are typically only seeking power at the expense of poor individuals or those who cannot properly defend themselves. These nations are also looking to evoke fear into neighboring communities and jurisdictions in an effort to force their religious value onto others. These militant groups can be very brutal and often are willing to kill innocent people in the name of a religion that ironically, advocates for peace. The united nations therefore have responsibility to maintain order and stability within the world while also respected the freedom of religion of differing nations. For the sun region organizations, it is also important to intervene as their very own territories are also threatened by these militant groups. These groups, if they become too powerful, can threaten other surrounding territories causing still further economic and political unrest. Its is therefore in the continent of Africa’s interest to make sure that these instances do not go unpunished. Likewise it is important for these countries to establish a stout and strong rule of law free from corruption. This allows all parties involved to better establish the overall integrity of capital and economic markets within the country. Plundering the assets of innocent victims, raping women and destroying the livelihoods of poor Africans is unacceptable and should therefore be met with extreme and unabating punishment.

5. Any peace building concepts applicable
For terrorists, there is no peace building concepts applicable. Here, the nations must take a hard stance that destruction of property, plant, equipment and human lives will be met with no negotiation. For disagreements, within any country, there is a peaceful manner in which to engage with the opposition party. However, killing other human beings is not an acceptable solution. As in the case of ISIS, these groups have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Mozambique residents. This has caused unprecedented damage to the surrounding community including both politically and economically. The inability of the country to protect its citizens has also encourage more residents to join enemy forces thus giving them more power and ability to harm others throughout the world. These conflicts started based on religion which is another very entrenched element within the human psyche. It is very difficult to reason with those willing to kill other individuals based on their religious beliefs. As a result of the inability for terrorist to negotiate, peace building concepts are not applicable in this regard. In fact, many of the peace building concepts will not be meaningful as they will involve making concessions on the part of terrorists who often are unwilling to negotiated. As a result, these individuals should be used as an example of. References