Title: 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.
Policy area: International Affairs

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.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 720 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 720

  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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 15, 2021

     Ms. Jacobs of California (for herself, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Kim of 
California, Mr. Meeks, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Allred, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Omar, and 
 Mr. Cicilline) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                  to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  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'', and has determined Mozambique is 
        eligible for its Prevention and Resilience Allocation, granting 
        potential access of up to $700,000,000 in additional assistance for 
        similar projects: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, 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.
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