Calling for stability and the cessation of violence and condemning ISIS-affiliated terrorist activity in northern Mozambique, including the Cabo Delgado Province, and for other purposes.

Whereas, in August 2019, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), and the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) President Ossufo Momade signed the Peace and Reconciliation Accord in Maputo, ending several years of resurgent armed conflict between RENAMO and FRELIMO before RENAMO’s rebel leader Mariano Nhongo was killed by Mozambican forces in October 2021; Whereas, in October 2017, violent extremists locally known as al-Shabab or Ahlu al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah targeted civilians in the Cabo Delgado Province and eventually took up arms against the Mozambican state, launching an armed insurgency that has had dire consequences for human rights, security, and socioeconomic welfare in the Cabo Delgado Province; Whereas, since 2017, Ahlu al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah has killed thousands of civilians and brutalized communities in Cabo Delgado Province, including through mass beheadings of men and boys, abductions, including of children who are forced to take up arms, and attacks against transportation, supply convoys, government facilities, and other buildings, such as homes, schools, and hospitals; Whereas, in 2018, the Cabo Delgado-based violent extremist group reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and was acknowledged by ISIS as an affiliate in August 2019; Whereas, on March 10, 2021, the Department of State designated Ahlu al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah, also known as ISIS-Mozambique, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, and identified Tanzanian national Abu Yasir Hassan as the leader of the organization; Whereas, in late March 2021, ISIS-Mozambique launched a complex attack against the northern Mozambican town of Palma over several days, overwhelming Mozambican forces, killing and abducting dozens of people, and destroying infrastructure, leading TotalEnergies to declare force majeure in relation to its partially United States Government-financed $20,000,000 liquified natural gas project near Palma; Whereas, in May 2021, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reported a high risk of new mass killings in Mozambique as part of the Early Warning Project risk assessment for 2020–2021; Whereas the United States Government announced in March 2021 its segment training of the Mozambican armed forces to help build their counterterrorism capacities, and the European Union announced in July 2021 that it would establish a military training mission in Mozambique; Whereas, on June 23, 2021, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state issued a communique approving the deployment of the SADC Standby Force Mission to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremism in Cabo Delgado Whereas, on July 10, 2021, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi confirmed that 1,000 Rwandan forces had begun deploying to the Cabo Delgado Province and that a SADC standby force would follow, and on August 8, 2021, Rwandan forces announced they had retaken a strategic provincial port from ISIS-Mozambique; Whereas grievances fueling terrorist recruitment reportedly include allegations of state corruption and exploitation, including by security forces, and historical socioeconomic and political marginalization of the Cabo Delgado Province and other northern regions, which has constrained development and brought about high rates of poverty, youth unemployment, and socioeconomic inequality; Whereas international development of northern Mozambique’s natural resources has the potential to yield economic benefit to the Cabo Delgado Province’s local populations through job creation, increased private investment, and expanded development initiatives, yet in some cases resource development has reportedly displaced local communities and some have been inadequately compensated for lost land, homes, and disrupted livelihoods; Whereas international human rights monitors have reported human rights violations perpetrated by Mozambican security forces during counterterrorism operations in the Cabo Delgado Province, including arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture of detainees, excessive force against unarmed civilians, intimidation, and extrajudicial killings; Whereas, as of June 2021, ISIS-Mozambique’s attacks and resulting clashes with government forces throughout the Cabo Delgado Province have killed over 3,000 people and displaced nearly 800,000, left 1,300,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance, including approximately 900,000, primarily women and children, in emergency-levels of food insecurity, and in July 2021, the World Food Program warned that insufficient funding could lead to famine in the region; Whereas the United States, through the United States Agency for International Development, is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance in Mozambique; and Whereas, in April 2021, the World Bank approved a $100,000,000 grant to Mozambique’s Agency for Integrated Development of the North for the restoration of livelihoods and economic opportunities, building of social cohesion, and improving access to basic services as well as the rehabilitation of selected public infrastructure intended to benefit internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in targeted areas of Northern Mozambique That the House of Representatives— (1) condemns the violence, targeting of civilians, and terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS-Mozambique in the Cabo Delgado Province; (2) urges the Mozambican Government to— (A) continue to work with international partners to restore security in the Cabo Delgado Province and counter violent extremism and terrorism in a manner that prioritizes the protection of civilians and their human rights; (B) take steps to protect children from abduction, forced conscription, and other forms of exploitation; (C) ensure humanitarian workers have access to vulnerable populations in the Cabo Delgado Province, including by reducing bureaucratic constraints on travel documents, humanitarian aid, and related equipment; (D) hold to account any government official who sought to disrupt the equitable provision of humanitarian assistance, or who diverted such assistance, profited from its distribution, or otherwise engage in exploitative or corrupt acts relating to the acquisition or provision of humanitarian aid; (E) work with the international community to document, investigate, and prosecute human rights abuses and other crimes committed by state security forces, militias, terrorists, and other armed actors, and to build government capacities to accomplish such outcomes; and (F) develop comprehensive national strategies and implementation plans to address underlying social, political, and economic grievances of local populations in the Cabo Delgado Province and neighboring provinces; (3) calls on Mozambican community leaders and civil society members in the Cabo Delgado Province to strengthen local resiliencies and prevent targeting and other forms of intercommunal violence and conflict; (4) calls on the United States Government and other donor governments to appropriately coordinate diplomatic, defense, and development resources and continue to expand, where possible, efforts to provide humanitarian assistance, promote good governance, spur economic growth, and build the capacity of the Government of Mozambique to counter terrorism and violent extremism and address conflict through existing programs, such as the Partnership for Regional East Africa Counterterrorism (PREACT), and future interagency initiatives, while ensuring respect for human rights and protection of civilians; (5) urges the Mozambican Northern Integrated Development Agency to consult with local populations and civil society groups in the Cabo Delgado Province and to ensure transparency and accountability in the provision of development assistance; and (6) calls on the international donor community to support continued humanitarian assistance, particularly in support of Mozambique’s Humanitarian Response Plan and local and national aid organizations providing aid to populations in the Cabo Delgado Province or other conflict-affected areas in Mozambique. Cheryl L. Johnson, Clerk.

Summary: This resolution condemns the terrorist attacks and violence carried out by ISIS-Mozambique in the Cabo Delgado Province and urges the government of Mozambique to take actions to counter violent extremism and protect its citizens.