Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Mozambique's Government Regains Control of Key Coastal Town Darren Taylor MAPUTO - Mozambique's government said it is reclaiming territory from Islamic State-affiliated insurgents that besieged the key northern coastal town of Palma, with some of the thousands of civilians who fled now going back to take stock of their losses. "The population is returning, but they have nothing to eat because the terrorists have looted almost everything," Agostinho Muthisse,a Mozambicanmilitary commander, said to a small group of journaliststhat the government flew in to visitPalma on Sunday. Militantsarmed with rocket launchers, rifles and machetesbegan anassaulton Palma-- atown of 75,000 in Mozambique's impoverished but resource-rich province of Cabo Delgado--onMarch 24.That day, the Frenchoil gas company Total had planned to resume work on a nearby liquified natural gas (LNG) project after insecurity forced it to suspend operations in December.By last Friday, the company had withdrawn all itspersonnel. Thefreshattacks haveuprooted more than 9,100 people in the province,according to the United NationsOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).Evenbefore the recent attacks therehadbeenroughly670,000internallydisplacedpeoplesince 2017as a result oftheinsurgencyinnorthern Mozambique[1]OCHA said. One week since the attack on Palma, [2]#Mozambique, began, the security situation reportedly remains volatile and thousands of people are on the move in search of safety & assistance. Nearly 9,200 have already arrived in other districts of [3]#CaboDelgado: [4]https://t.co/bCfsRwb3JL [5]pic.twitter.com/JXKTeEt9wL -- OCHA Southern & Eastern Africa (@UNOCHA_ROSEA) [6]April 2, 2021 Dozens ofciviliansdied in thesiege, according tothegovernment.Also, "asignificant numberof terrorists '¦ were shot down," Commander Chongo Vidigal told state television TVM on Sunday,AgenceFrance-Presse (AFP), the Frenchnewsagencyreported Monday.The dead included at least several foreigners, including British and South African nationals. Vidigal, who led the military operation in Palma, said authorities wouldprovidea more specific tally later. "Palma is under 100% control by Mozambican authorities,"CaboDelgado GovernorValygiTualibotold visiting journalists, AFP reported. But someexpertsare skeptical of the government's claimsabout themilitants'deaths and about Palma'ssecurity--details hard to verify independentlybecause of limited access. Call for outside help Agrowing chorus is calling forMozambique'sgovernment tobringinmorereinforcementsagainst the armed militants, who callthemselvesal-Shabab.Unafiliatedwith theSomalia-based terrorist group that sharesthename, they pledge fealtyto the Islamic State. In this image taken from militant video released by the Islamic State group on Monday March 29, 2021, purporting to show fighters near the strategic north eastern Mozambique town of Palma. "The government urgently needs help from the Southern African Development Community and the African Union," Dewa Mavhinga, southern Africa director for [7]Human Rights Watch, wrotelast weekin an op-ed for News 24. He encouraged MozambicanPresident FilipeNyusi, currentSADCchairperson, to "tap into regional support to ensure civilian protection against attacks and to restore security in Cabo Delgado." Mavhinga, who also accused the African Union of being "slow to act" in the Cabo Delgado crisis, recommended thatSADCand theAU"consider appointing special envoys to lead stepped-up efforts to protect civilians, "end the abuses by armed groups and government security forces," andensure accountability. [8]Amnesty International, in a report in early March, called upon theAfrican Union toget more involved in resolving Cabo Delgado's "massive humanitarian crisis." SADCalready has met several times on the issue. Separately, several sources inSouth AfricanPresident Cyril Ramaphosa's administrationtold VOAthey'vebeen trying to get Maputo's cooperation for a long time, to no avail. "South Africa is pivotal to at least decreasing the violence,"Liesl Louw-Vaudran, a senior researcher with the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, told VOA. The Maputo government has accepted limited support from outsiders, Louw-Vaudrannoted. "The stumbling block seems to be that Mozambique doesn't want help from the neighbors," Louw-Vaudransaid. "'¦Is it because Mozambique doesn't want to admit that its army is too weak to actually safeguard citizens?" Military training The Pentagon announced [9]March 15that a team of U.S. Special Operations Forces had just launched a two-month program to train and support [10]Mozambican marines in fighting violent extremism.Portugal also is training troopsto take ontheinsurgents. Mozambique also has been paying the Dyck Advisory Group, a South Africa-based private military company, to supply security agents and helicopter gunships to bolster Mozambican forces. These agents beenaccused of atrocities in Cabo Delgado. Dyck's contract with Mozambique expires Tuesday,DAG founder LionelDyckconfirmedtoAFP. Willem Els, a former senior South Africanpoliceand intelligence officer,pointed out the insurgency's broadening threat. Ithas drawn in "foreign fighters from especially Tanzania as far as Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, DRC and even South Africa,"he told VOA."So, what started off as a very localized challenge is now a regional challenge." Trouble ahead? EvaRenon, a senior analyst with theLondon-basedrisk and research firmHIS Markit,anticipatesmoredanger. "Unless the security situation changes significantly," she wrote in an assessment posted Monday on the company [11]website,"in the next six months insurgents are likely to attempt to capture Pemba,"the Cabo Delgado provincial capital. Renon also wrote that insurgents "will likely target beachfront hotels, government facilities, and the personnel and assets ofnon-governmentalorganizations, the Catholic Church, and the United Nations." The analystseesotherpotentialhazards."If insurgents capture Pemba," she wrote, "they are likely to turn their attention west" to areas around the Cabo communities ofMontepuezandBalama."These areas are rich in ruby and graphite deposits,respectively, with the insurgents likely to seek to extort then ultimately control mining operations, with associated risks of kidnap, injury, and death to mining staff and subcontractors." Most observers agree the long-term solution lies in SADC states, the African Union and the United Nations drawing up a road map to peace, with special emphasis on the development of Cabo Delgado. This would mean lessopportunityfor the extremists to exploit local grievances. This report originated in VOA's Africa Division, withDarren Taylorreporting for the English to Africa Service from Johannesburg andSimiĆ£oPongoanefor the Portuguese Servicefrom Maputo. References 1. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/04/1088962 2. https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mozambique?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 3. https://twitter.com/hashtag/CaboDelgado?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 4. https://t.co/bCfsRwb3JL 5. https://t.co/JXKTeEt9wL 6. https://twitter.com/UNOCHA_ROSEA/status/1377943437878628360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 7. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/02/sadc-au-need-urgently-help-mozambique-protect-cabo-delgado-civilians 8. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/3545/2021/en/ 9. https://mz.usembassy.gov/u-s-government-provides-military-training-to-mozambican-marines/ 10. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-31-au-asked-to-step-up-on-cabo-delgado-insurgency-as-mozambique-rests-on-a-knife-edge/ 11. https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/terrorism-mozambiques-cabo-delgado-data.html .