A província de Cabo Delgado, que alberga uma das maiores reservas de gás natural do mundo, é, desde Outubro de 2017, palco de ataques armados por insurgentes, situação recentemente classificada pelo Conselho Nacional de Defesa e Segurança (CNDS) como “agressão externa perpetrada por terroristas do Estado Islâmico”.
Situation that contributed to the province's loss from 2018 to 2019, about 2 billion meticais in tax revenue (approximately 27.6% of the province's total revenue in this period). In this period, resources destined to the social sectors were seen to decrease by more than 50%, while resources for the areas of Military Defense increased by around 451%.
Thus, it is noted that Cabo Delgado may be at risk of a "conflict trap", a situation that refers to the vicious circle between conflicts and economic performance, in which conflicts delay economic growth and development, increasing in turn , the likelihood of more conflicts occurring.
