Cabo Delgado insurgency grows amid Rwandan and SADC deployment

But role of Rwanda in the spotlight, as its deployment seems to be more political than regional By Justin Cronje The conflict in the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique has led to over 3 000 deaths, displaced just under a million people and is showing no signs of slowing down. If anything, Ansar al-Sunna (known locally as al-Shabab), the mostly local terrorist group responsible for the conflict, are growing in capacity and numbers. The Mozambican government has been criticized by academics, politicians, security experts and journalists for their inability to thwart an initially small group of violent, desperately poor locals and address the under-lying socio-economic factors that fuel this insurgency. Ansar al-Sunna’s proliferation since it formed in 2017 and their increasing capabilities have not gone unnoticed by external politicians and the wider international community. Rwanda, for reasons speculated to be political, has sent 1 000 soldiers and police to conduct security and combat operations in the northern province. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will send a standby force at an unknown date.