This Part of Mozambique Was Like Paradise. Now It’s a Terrorist Hotbed.

Islamic State militants have rampaged across the northern Cabo Delgado Province for more than seven years. The government says the situation has stabilized. Residents tell a different story.

In October, we traveled to the Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique to understand how terrorists who claim an affiliation with the Islamic State have gained a foothold and wreaked havoc on Muslims and Christians alike.

Officials in the region and in the West say they are deeply concerned that if the Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-Mozambique is not contained, then the loosely linked Islamic State network that has been gaining ground in pockets of Africa could become a bigger global threat.

What locals call “the war” has robbed the region of what was a largely peaceful life of fishing and farming.

Nearly 6,000 people have been killed and up to half of the province’s 2.3 million people have been displaced. Finding food and shelter has become a daily struggle in a province rich with natural resources like rubies, gas and timber.

Since our visit, the country has grown only more tense. After a disputed presidential election, Mozambique has been engulfed in the worst election-related violence since a long-running civil war ended in 1992. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across the country to protest a result that many believe was rigged by the governing party, Frelimo. Nearly 300 people have been killed during the protests, according to Decide Electoral Platform, a civil society organization.

On top of that, Cabo Delgado and Nampula province to the south took a direct hit from Cyclone Chido in mid-December, killing as many as 120 people, displacing tens of thousands, and leaving many without food and clean water.