Inclusive dialogue: a priority for resolving the Cabo Delgado insurgency

Mozambique needs a nuanced approach that can open channels for local conflict resolution. The armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado entered its eighth year in October 2025. Despite extensive military efforts, jihadists remain active and pose a serious threat to military and human security. Now under new leadership, the Mozambican government continues to prioritise an exclusively militarised response even though this approach has consistently failed to contain violent extremism. Attempts to resolve the conflict through dialogue have had little impact as they lack government support. About the author Borges Nhamirre is a research consultant on southern Africa at the Institute for Security Studies. His focus areas include violent extremism, governance, elections and transnational organised crime. Borges has a master’s degree in security studies from Joaquim Chissano University, Mozambique and is studying towards a doctoral degree in ethnicity and conflict at Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom. Publications --> Download Policy Brief 204 PDF   Development partners The ISS is grateful for support from the members of the ISS Partnership Forum: the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the European Union, the Open Society Foundations and the governments of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.