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There are concerns that Mozambique's jihadists appear to be aiming to create their own self-declared "caliphate" in Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique - with the years' old conflict escalating at an extreme speed.

Thousands of people have fled the town of Palma which lies just a few kilometres from the site of a $20bn liquified natural gas plant - one of the biggest investment projects in Africa. Many arrived in boats and ships in Pemba, another coastal town to the south.

War reporter, Al Venter - author of 'Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa' - has been embedded with Portuguese armies across Africa and has close links with the mercenary forces fighting the insurgents in northern Mozambique. He says while Palma now appears quiet, the jihadists are well armed with weapons from Russia and China and are now able to travel at speed.

"Some of the authorities in Pemba reckon they've got about 1,000 vehicles they've captured from the gas people. That's SUV's, heavy loaders, trucks. That means they can now move at will and at speed. Before they couldn't do that, they had to move at night because they came under attack from the mercenary force DAG (Dyck Advisory Group). Now they've got freedom of movement and the word in Pemba is they might be next in line."

(Photo: One of the people who fled Palma, after they arrived in Pemba. Credit: Reuters)

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