The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office continues to advise against all travel to most of Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique, with the exception of Palma town and the area around Pemba and Afungi, and against all but essential travel to Palma town and the Pemba and Afungi area. The same advice against all travel covers the districts of Memba and Eráti in Nampula Province and Mecula and Marrupo in Niassa Province.
The FCDO assesses that terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Mozambique. The threat centres on IS-Mozambique (IS-M), a group with links to Daesh, which is mainly active in Cabo Delgado and has carried out attacks in neighbouring districts of Niassa and Nampula. Recorded attacks have used explosives, machetes and firearms, alongside the burning of vehicles and homes, robberies, looting and threats. A large-scale attack on Palma in 2021 killed dozens of people, and the FCDO warns that attacks can be indiscriminate, reaching roads and roadblocks, military bases, towns and villages, coastal islands and safari or hunting areas.
Kidnap is a specific and current risk. The FCDO states the threat is particularly acute in Cabo Delgado and the neighbouring districts of Niassa and Nampula, and that British nationals are seen as legitimate targets, including business travellers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists and tourists. Separately, criminal kidnaps occur mainly around the capital Maputo, where foreigners and business owners can be targeted.
For operators, this is a current-state picture rather than a change this week: the advise-against lines have held, but any tasking into or near Cabo Delgado and the named Nampula and Niassa districts carries a standing attack and kidnap risk that should shape route, profile and contingency planning.
