https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5796-4156
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ABSTRACT
This article explores the contemporary expressions of violence and oppression linked to the action of the extractive industry in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. Twenty-five years after the signing of the General Peace Agreement, the debate on peace in the country has remained confined to the resurgence of armed clashes between RENAMO combatants and State security forces in recent years. It is proposed here, however, that the current range of violence that challenge peace in Mozambique is broader and more diverse, requiring an analysis that considers the arrival of transnational extractivism. This study, taking Cabo Delgado province as a case-study, aims to broaden the scope of academic debates by establishing a dialogue with the practice of local peacebuilding, and contributions from the critical political economy of development and the collective capability approach.
Acknowledgements
An early version of this work was presented at the 10th Iberian Conference of African Studies (CIEA) in Granada (2018) and benefited from being discussed with the audience. The authors would like to thank to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and recommendations that helped to improve the manuscript; to the whole team of the project “Territories in Conflict” for their support, and specifically to Dr. Eduardo Bidaurratzaga Aurre for his suggestions and encouragement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 To look into this matter see Alberdi, Bidaurratzaga, et al. (Citation2014), Augé (Citation2014), Cruz e Silva, de Araujo, and de Souto (Citation2015), Salmão (Citation2015), Symons (Citation2016), Teresa Cunha et al. (Citation2019), Maquenzi (Citation2019).
2 National Resistance of Mozambique (RENAMO): former “anti-communist” guerrilla group that confronted the FRELIMO State in the civil war (1977–1992) and currently the main political party of the opposition represented at the National Assembly.
3 Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO): former anti-colonial movement and later political party which has run the country since independence (1975).
4 Which could entail mixed features of Johan Galtung’s analysis of violence (1990): direct, cultural and structural violence. See: Galtung (Citation1990).
5 Most of the existing literature on the extractivism boom in Mozambique has focused on the exploration of coal in the province of Tete and gas in Inhambane, and more recently in the Rovuma basin off of Cabo Delgado, see Mosca and Selemane (Citation2011), Selemane (Citation2013), Kirshner and Power (Citation2015), Bidaurratzaga and Colom (Citation2015), Schubert (Citation2018), Wiegink (Citation2018), Kirshner, Broto, and Baptista (Citation2019).
6 Richmond and Mitchell (Citation2011, 326), “liberal peace” combines a mixture of theoretical constructs derived from liberal internationalism, democratic peace theory, liberal institutionalism, liberal internationalism, and neoliberalism. This paradigm, according to the authors, conflates peace with the production of secure and stable neoliberal States, defined by the presence of democratic processes, the rule of law, guaranteed human rights, a social contract guaranteed by a robust civil society, and integration into the global economy.
7 The outstanding feature of this author’s contribution is scale, given that the goals (control of the territory and of strategic resources) and the use of a hyper-concentrated criminality without political objectives coincide with Kaldor’s concept of “new wars”.
8 Local Governance in Sustaining Peace and Conflict Analysis used by the UN; the joint initiative by the UN and the World Bank Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict; Improving International Support to Peace Processes, by the OECD; New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States promoted by the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding which involves international organizations, governments and civil society platforms; Policy & Practice Brief by the ACCORD organization; Drivers of Change and Building Peaceful States and Societies by the DFID; Power Analysis by SIDA …
9 For a further look at the history of the Niassa Company and its impact on the territory see: Correia (Citation2010, 69), Correia (Citation2016, 145), Newitt (Citation2017, 99–118).
10 The Administrative Area of Namanhumbir, located 33 kilometres from the main town of the District of Montepuez (Cabo Delgado), with 24 villages and an approximate population of 20,000 inhabitants, is one of the centres of attention. The estimates of the early findings indicate that the district has around 40% of the world’s ruby reserves.
11 Small-scale or artisanal mining (garimpo) is a mineral extraction activity that involves using rudimentary technology. This garimpo is an alternative to peasant poverty, which is carried out informally and in a clandestine form, without exploitation licences, by independent and itinerant groups. See: Feijó and Ibrahimo (Citation2017, 1–3). It is important to remember that licences are granted in a centralised way, by the central government, and despite the abundance of lands, land grabs and plundering of rural communities have become much more common. Mozambican legislation clearly defines the beneficiaries (the community), the obligation to run community consultations, sets out a precise system of the demarcation of territories and obliges investing companies to present development plans. However, all these precautionary measures have been seen to be insufficient. See: Cabral and Norfolk (Citation2016, 11–17).
12 The presence of the mineral graphite in Balama is documented in the inventories of resources drawn up by the Niassa Company in the late 19th century. The Australian company Syrah runs the Balama mine, one of the world’s largest, and has begun to sell graphite to Chinese battery manufacturers. The Ancuabe mine was explored throughout the 1990s, but its poor prospects for profitability meant that it was not opened until 2017, with a German company, AMG Graphit Kropfmuehl GmbH, linked to Grafex Lda, operating it. There is a plan to open a new mine in Montepuez soon. The ports of Pemba and Nacala have been fitted out for the distribution of goods and transportation of waste.
13 In this new scenario, the existence of seven “security” actors has been documented in terms of guarding the MRM mine. On behalf of the State: The Rapid Response Unit, the State Intelligence and Security Services, the VIP Protection Police and the Protection of Natural Resource Police. Privately, the mine has three security services: Arkhe Risk Solutions and Chelsea Group, hired externally, and QRT, the company’s internal security. The QRT members constitute a kind of “militia”, normally called “nacatanas” by the local community since they are known for carrying machetes and acting violently with “irregular” miners when they are discovered on mine land.
14 For example, as stated in different press articles and socio-environmental impact studies, the company Grafex Lda is carrying out consultations in the communities of Muaguide, Natocua, Sunate, Namkumi and Pulu (CES Citation2017, 22).
15 The fieldwork data used in this article to complete the literature review was carried out in September 2012 and comprised 20 semi-structured interviews that took place in the cities of Maputo, Pemba and Montepuez. The sample of interviewee profiles was highly heterogeneous and included policy makers and members of local public authorities, local businessmen, members of NGOs and community leaders. Among the people interviewed it is worth highlighting: L. M. (Vía Campesina/National Union of Peasants – UNAC), J. C. T (Center of Social Studies Aquino de Bragança – CESAB), J. P. (Mechanism of Support for Civil Society – MASC), I.A (UNDP/ART-PAPDEL); G. S (Forum Mulher), J. P (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation – AECID); A. J. and A. E (UNAC/Cabo Delgado), E. and H. (NGO Forum of Cabo Delgado – FOCADE), V. V. (Environmental Association of Cabo Delgado – AMA), A. E. (Haurralde Foundation), B. C. and L. V. (Cruz Vermelha/Cabo Delgado), C. D. (Local Economic Development Agency/Pemba, ADEL), A. M. (UNDP/Cabo Delgado), L. P. (Provincial Institute for Women and Social Action), K. V. (NGO Switzerland Helvetas), T. R. (OXFAM/Belgium); A. F. N. (UDACOMO/UNAC), A. B. (Montepuez Microcredit – MML), G. (Cruz Bermelha/ Montepuez), V. M. (Medicus Mundi-Montepuez), S. S. (ISF/ONGAWUA), C. C. (Environmental Association of Montepuez), E. L. (Legal Office for the Rights of Women – GJDJ).
In July 2013 a seminar was organised at the UNILURIO University in Pemba, which brought together a dozen academics and specialists who addressed different aspects and experiences of local human development in northern Mozambique. In February 2019 another period of field research was planned for the districts of Palma and Montepuez, but due to the current uncertainty and lack of security (both for the group of researchers and communities), it was decided to replace it with a seminar involving three focus groups, at the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM) in Pemba.
16 Small-scale mining is an age-old activity and an important source of income for many local families (even forming a part of the social reproduction mechanisms of many families). Currently, this tension between informal and official extraction has created a series of socioeconomic problems marked by the withdrawal of resources from agricultural production, by the construction of disorganised settlements of people, and by environmental problems. So, in these areas a kind of “wild west” scenario has arisen that is characterised by an absence of law, opportunism and general insecurity (Feijó and Ibrahimo Citation2017, 1–3).
17 It can be pointed out, in this regard, that in 2017 images and videos from the Mozambican police’s Rapid Response Unit were leaked. With the support of some “civilians”, they humiliated and inflicted torture on illegal miners in Montepuez. A research commission by the Mozambican Lawyers’ College concluded that these acts of torture were no more than a reflection of the everyday violence experienced in the area since mining exploitation began in 2009. See: CDHOAM (Citation2017, 1–2).
18 As well as these two multinationals in the hydrocarbon sector, there are many other associated companies, including Petronas, Statoil, Total, Maurel & Prom, from different countries (India, United Kingdom, Thailand, Portugal, China, Norway, Malaysia, Brazil, South Africa …)
19 The shareholders of Portos de Cabo Delgado are public, State companies (Caminhos de Ferro do Moçambique and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos) and private companies (ENHILS, Orlean Invest, Sonangol, Volpi …) with 50% each.
20 The fishing communities of Cabo Delgado, particularly, are experiencing a situation of great vulnerability and exclusion aggravated by a lack of expectations about their future (Cruz e Silva, de Araujo, and de Souto Citation2015, 61–67).
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Notes on contributors
Jokin Alberdi
Jokin Alberdi is a Lecturer of Constitutional and European Union Law at the University of the Basque Country – UPV/EHU (Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain). He holds a PhD in Political Science, and conducts research at HEGOA – Institute for International Cooperation and Development Studies, at the African Studies Group (GEA/UAM), and at Gernika Gogoratuz – Peace Research Centre, where he co-leaded the project Territories in Conflict.
Manuel Barroso
Manuel Barroso is a PhD Student in Political Science at Complutense University of Madrid – UCM (Madrid, Spain). Researcher on conflicts and peacebuilding at the African Studies Group of the Autonomous University of Madrid (GEA/UAM), and research assistant of the project Territories in Conflict at Gernika Gogoratuz.