Four times in four years, Amade has fled his village in Mozambique, fearful he would be killed by Islamic State group-linked militants who burn homes and have a reputation for beheading.
His pocket of northern Mozambique has been blighted by insurgency since 2017, leaving thousands dead on both sides and putting a vast gas production project on hold due to poor security.
In that time, bolstered by international peacekeepers, Mozambique’s government has repeatedly declared that security in the Cabo Delgado region has turned a corner.
Yet after relative calm last year, recent weeks have seen what monitors call “a massive escalation in insurgent violence”.
At least 80,000 mainly Christians have been driven from their homes, Mozambique’s army has suffered its bloodiest day in three years, a town and an island have been reported captured, and several churches burned.
This week it was also reported that some 70 children are feared seized, to be used as child soldiers.
“When we heard shots being fired, we started running,” says Amade, a 60-year-old farmer, about his latest escape in February.
“This was the fourth time fleeing attacks in my village since 2020. We don’t have any food and we are relying on the generosity of others to eat.”
