![Rwandan soldiers patrol a village in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique.](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mozambique-conflict-insurgency-al-shabaab-05092024-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
An insurgency allied with the Islamic State has been waging a bloody campaign in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province for almost a decade. After a lull in fighting that lasted most of last year, militants spread southward through the isolated province in late 2023 and early 2024, burning houses, schools and churches as they went.