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Mozambique has seen a brutal conflict in the northern Cabo Delgado province for the last three years, between the government and Muslim insurgents; the insurgents are thought to have loose ties to the Islamic State group, but in the area, mostly impoverished people have coalesced focusing on local grievances. Their tactics of beheadings, even young children, has led to Washington naming it a global terrorist entity and it has sent a small group of soldiers to train the Mozambiquan army.
In the last few days, hundreds of people - including foreign workers - have fled an Islamist advance, reaching safety in the port of Pemba after being rescued by ships and boats. Security forces say dozens of people have been killed in the attack on Palma further north. It is a murky conflict, which involves a South African private military contractor, the Dyck Advisory Group, taken on by the government to assist in the fight against the Islamists. Colonel Lionel Dyck, is the founder and served in the Zimbabwean army after independence, where he led troops in to central Mozambique to defeat rebels 35-years-ago. He spoke to Newshour's Razia Iqbal.

(Photo: People await the arrival of more ships from Palma district with people fleeing attacks by rebel groups, in Pemba, Mozambique, 29 March 2021. Credit: EPA/Luis Miguel Fonseca)