Cabo Delgado Province
Cabo Delgado is the northernmost province of Mozambique. It has an area of and a population of 2,320,261 (2017). As well as bordering Mtwara Region in the neighboring country of Tanzania, it borders the provinces of Nampula and Niassa. The region is an ethnic stronghold of the Makonde tribe, with the Makua and Mwani as leading ethnic minorities. Pemba is the capital of the province; other important cities include Montepuez and Mocímboa da Praia. History. The province shares its name with Cape Delgado (), a coastal headland on the border between Mozambique and Tanzania, which forms the northernmost  point in Mozambique. On 25 September 1964, FRELIMO guerrillas arrived from Tanzania and, with help from some individuals of the surrounding population, attacked a Portuguese administrative post in the province. This raid marked the beginning of the Mozambican War of Independence, part of the Portuguese Colonial War, the former of which was an armed struggle between the Portuguese colonial authorities in the then-Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique and the independence movement. This province was the focus of Operation Gordian Knot, where the Portuguese forces attempted to wipe out the guerrilla bases in the province. Jihadist insurgency. Beginning in October  2017, armed Islamist extremists linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched a jihadist insurgency in the Cabo Delgado region. The militants launched attacks and committed mass beheadings, and in August 2020 seized the port town of Mocimboa da Praia. The group sometimes calls themselves "al-Shabaab", although they do not have known links with the Somali al-Shabaab, a different jihadist group. In March 2021, the U.S. Department of State designated Ahlu Sunna Wal Jammah (ASWJ), a group operating in Cabo Delgado with the participation of "foreign fighters" from Tanzania, as a franchise of ISIL  and added it to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The International Crisis Group reported in March 2021 that while ISIL has contact with the jihadists in Mozambique and has given some level of financial assistance, ISIL likely does not exert command and control authority over the group. Mozambique Defence Armed Forces have been battling the extremists. Many civilians have been displaced by the fighting. In September 2020, ISIL insurgents captured Vamizi Island in the Indian Ocean. Over fifty people were beheaded by terrorists in the province in April 2020 and a similar number in November 2020. In March 2021 , the NGO Save the Children reported that Islamist militants were beheading children, some as young as 11. On March 24, 2021, the militants seized Palma, murdering dozens of civilians and displacing more than 35,000 of the town's 75,000 residents. Many fled to the provincial capital, Pemba. In July 2021 Southern African Development Community deployed its military mission to the province Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM). Demographics. Religion. Religion is shaping a civil war in Cabo Delgado. Mozambique is a majority-Christian country; however two northern provinces have an Islamic majority – Niassa (61 percent) and Cabo Delgado  (54 percent). In Cabo Delgado, only three districts have a Catholic majority – Muidumbe (67 percent) and Mueda (54 percent) in the north and Namuno (61 percent) in the south. Two other districts have significant Catholic populations – Nangade (42 percent Catholic, 36 percent Muslim) in the north and Chiure (44 percent Muslim, 42 percent Catholic) in the South, whilst twelve have Muslim majorities, including Pemba; four are more than 90 percent Muslim. Coastal administrative posts are all over 75 percent Muslim. Districts. Cabo Delgado Province is divided into the 16 districts of: and the municipalities of: