NAIROBI, Kenya – US Special Forces soldiers began training Mozambican troops this week as part of an effort to repel a spreading insurgency in northeastern Mozambique that American officials say is linked to the Islamic State. The insurgency, near some of the world’s largest gas reserves, killed at least 2,000 civilians and displaced another 670,000.
The American program is modest in size and scope: a dozen Army Green Berets will train Mozambican Marines in the next two months. But it does signal the entry of the United States military into a counter-insurgency effort that has been aided mainly by South African mercenaries, who face accusations of human rights abuses.
The war in Mozambique is part of an alarming expansion of insurgencies that are believed to have links with the Islamic State in various parts of Africa. Last year, militants captured portions of territory in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, including a port on the Indian Ocean, and beheaded hundreds of civilians, according to human rights groups.
“I don’t think anybody predicted this,” said Col. Richard Schmidt, deputy commander of the US Special Operations Forces in Africa, in a telephone interview from Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. “It is worrying that this will come up so quickly.”
Last week, the United States formally designated the group, known locally as Al-Sunna wa Jama’a, as a global terrorist entity and imposed sanctions on its leader, named by American officials as Abu Yasir Hassan.
But it is not clear how strong the ties are between the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and this group, as well as some others in Africa.
The insurgency in Mozambique includes some fighters from Tanzania, but most come from the local area, a place of extreme poverty and endemic corruption. Islamic State’s main publications have not mentioned operations in Mozambique since last fall.
Some experts fear that the group’s American designation as linked to the Islamic State could undermine future efforts to end the insurgency through negotiations.
“There are concerns that this designation could complicate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Cabo Delgado, and possible dialogue with the insurgents there,” said Dino Mahtani, deputy director of the Africa program at the International Crisis Group, who recently visited Mozambique.
Still, the ferocity of the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province, took American military officials, diplomats and counterterrorism officers by surprise.
A group that numbered about two dozen combatants in 2017 has grown to as many as 800 fighters, with the ability to carry out attacks in neighboring Tanzania, where analysts believe the group is linked to criminal and smuggling networks that supply weapons and other equipment.
Mozambican counterinsurgency efforts were hampered by divisions between the country’s military and its powerful police, so it turned to private soldiers for help.
In 2019, about 160 contractors from the Wagner Group, a private military company linked to the Kremlin, flew to Cabo Delgado. But they withdrew quickly after at least seven Wagner members were killed by insurgents, American officials said.
Next, Mozambique turned to mercenaries from South Africa, specifically the Dyck Advisory Group, which came equipped with small helicopters armed with side weapons.
But Amnesty International recently accused mercenaries of possible war crimes, including the death of civilians. More broadly, its effectiveness against insurgents has been limited.
John T. Godfrey, State Department’s interim counterterrorism coordinator, told reporters last week that the United States was “concerned” about the presence of private contractors who “have not shown to have helped” win the battle against Islamic State.
“Frankly, it is a feature of the Cabo Delgado landscape that complicates rather than helps efforts to address the terrorist threat there,” said Godfrey.
A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, said the military training program, which will focus on the soldier’s basic skills, could lead to more ambitious American aid for the Mozambican military, including assistance to combat, planning and logistics victims.
The United States is also looking to increase intelligence assistance to Mozambique, the official said.
Last week, the State Department also imposed sanctions on an ISIS arm in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its leader, Seka Musa Baluku. Islamic insurgents affiliated with the Islamic State are also active in Libya, Mali, Niger and other parts of West Africa.
Regional experts, however, say that some of these groups may be using the name of the Islamic State to sow fear and attract funds, while processing conflicts that are essentially local in nature.
“They may be protected by the black flag,” said Mahtani, an analyst at the Crisis Group. “But what motivates them to kill? It can be a global jihad, but it can also be local conflicts and complaints. “
Eric Schmitt reported from Washington.