Mozambique insurgency jeopardises Japan’s energy security

The resource-poor nation’s search for a reliable alternative to the long-delayed recommissioning of nuclear power plants continues

In early August, an Islamist insurgency in the north of Mozambique succeeded in capturing the northern port town of Mocimboa da Praia, just 60km south of the Afungi peninsula, the hub of the southeastern African country’s growing LNG industry. The insurgency has been around since 2017 but is gaining strength. Mocimboa da Praia, which has fallen and been recaptured before, will most likely be retaken by the government, according to Alexandre Raymakers, a senior analyst at consultancy Verisk Maplecroft in London. But the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah insurgency is “slowly closing the capability gap and will only become a more formidable adversary in the months ahead”. Energy security is a long-