U.S. Offers Mozambique Help as Attacks Roil Gas-Rich North

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The U.S. government is offering Mozambique help to end fatal attacks by suspected militants in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado region, the top American diplomat in the country said.

Police have arrested more than 300 people since October after raids in Mocimboa da Praia in the country’s northeast, the first of which targeted police stations and the government blamed on a “radical Islamic sect.” Sporadic attacks have continued, including this month on a health center and a government building.

“It’s a very worrying situation,” U.S. Ambassador Dean Pittman said in an interview in Maputo, the capital, on Monday. “We are going to clarify with the government to see if we can help to stop the violence.”

The attacks have occurred near the Rovuma basin, where companies including Exxon Mobil Corp., Eni SpA and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. have gas projects. The development of the deposits could make the southeastern African nation the world’s fourth-biggest natural gas exporter.

U.S. military support has helped Somalia’s government’s combat Islamist rebels in the Horn of Africa, where a series of drone and manned-aircraft strikes have killed key leaders of al-Shabaab. The al-Qaeda affiliate has waged a decade-long insurgency against Somalia’s government in a bid to impose Islamic law in the country. The militant group has carried out attacks in eastern African nations including Kenya, Uganda and Djibouti.

Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Security, is considering partnering with state-owned Mozambican companies to help protect the nation’s offshore gas resources, located near the Tanzanian border, he said in December.