[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 720 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 720
Calling for stability and the cessation of violence and condemning
ISIS-affiliated terrorist activity in northern Mozambique, including
the Cabo Delgado Province, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 15, 2021
Ms. Jacobs of California (for herself, Ms. Bass, Mrs. Kim of
California, Mr. Meeks, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Allred, Mr. Lieu, Ms. Omar, and
Mr. Cicilline) submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling for stability and the cessation of violence and condemning
ISIS-affiliated terrorist activity in northern Mozambique, including
the Cabo Delgado Province, and for other purposes.
Whereas, in August 2019, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, of the Mozambique
Liberation Front (FRELIMO), and the Mozambican National Resistance
(RENAMO) President Ossufo Momade signed the Peace and Reconciliation
Accord in Maputo, ending several years of resurgent armed conflict
between RENAMO and FRELIMO before RENAMO's rebel leader Mariano Nhongo
was killed by Mozambican forces in October 2021;
Whereas, in October 2017, violent extremists locally known as al-Shabab or Ahlu
al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah targeted civilians in the Cabo Delgado Province and
eventually took up arms against the Mozambican state, launching an armed
insurgency that has had dire consequences for human rights, security,
and socioeconomic welfare in the Cabo Delgado Province;
Whereas, since 2017, Ahlu al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah has killed thousands of civilians
and brutalized communities in Cabo Delgado Province, including through
mass beheadings of men and boys, abductions, including of children who
are forced to take up arms, and attacks against transportation, supply
convoys, government facilities, and other buildings, such as homes,
schools, and hospitals;
Whereas, in 2018, the Cabo Delgado-based violent extremist group reportedly
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and was
acknowledged by ISIS as an affiliate in August 2019;
Whereas, on March 10, 2021, the Department of State designated Ahlu al-Sunnah
wal-Jamaah, also known as ISIS-Mozambique, as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as Specially
Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, and identified
Tanzanian national Abu Yasir Hassan as the leader of the organization;
Whereas, in late March 2021, ISIS-Mozambique launched a complex attack against
the northern Mozambican town of Palma over several days, overwhelming
Mozambican forces, killing and abducting dozens of people, and
destroying infrastructure, leading TotalEnergies to declare force
majeure in relation to its partially United States Government-financed
$20,000,000 liquified natural gas project near Palma;
Whereas, in May 2021, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reported a
high risk of new mass killings in Mozambique as part of the Early
Warning Project risk assessment for 2020-2021;
Whereas the United States Government announced in March 2021 its segment
training of the Mozambican armed forces to help build their
counterterrorism capacities, and the European Union announced in July
2021 that it would establish a military training mission in Mozambique;
Whereas, on June 23, 2021, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
heads of state issued a communique approving the deployment of the SADC
Standby Force Mission to combat ``acts of terrorism and violent
extremism in Cabo Delgado'';
Whereas, on July 10, 2021, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi confirmed that
1,000 Rwandan forces had begun deploying to the Cabo Delgado Province
and that a SADC standby force would follow, and on August 8, 2021,
Rwandan forces announced they had retaken a strategic provincial port
from ISIS-Mozambique;
Whereas grievances fueling terrorist recruitment reportedly include allegations
of state corruption and exploitation, including by security forces, and
historical socioeconomic and political marginalization of the Cabo
Delgado Province and other northern regions, which has constrained
development and brought about high rates of poverty, youth unemployment,
and socioeconomic inequality;
Whereas international development of northern Mozambique's natural resources has
the potential to yield economic benefit to the Cabo Delgado Province's
local populations through job creation, increased private investment,
and expanded development initiatives, yet in some cases resource
development has reportedly displaced local communities and some have
been inadequately compensated for lost land, homes, and disrupted
livelihoods;
Whereas international human rights monitors have reported human rights
violations perpetrated by Mozambican security forces during
counterterrorism operations in the Cabo Delgado Province, including
arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture of detainees, excessive force
against unarmed civilians, intimidation, and extrajudicial killings;
Whereas, as of June 2021, ISIS-Mozambique's attacks and resulting clashes with
government forces throughout the Cabo Delgado Province have killed over
3,000 people and displaced nearly 800,000, left 1,300,000 people in need
of humanitarian assistance, including approximately 900,000, primarily
women and children, in emergency-levels of food insecurity, and in July
2021, the World Food Program warned that insufficient funding could lead
to famine in the region;
Whereas the United States, through the United States Agency for International
Development, is the single largest donor of humanitarian assistance in
Mozambique; and
Whereas, in April 2021, the World Bank approved a $100,000,000 grant to
Mozambique's Agency for Integrated Development of the North for the
``restoration of livelihoods and economic opportunities, building of
social cohesion, and improving access to basic services as well as the
rehabilitation of selected public infrastructure intended to benefit
internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in targeted
areas of Northern Mozambique'', and has determined Mozambique is
eligible for its Prevention and Resilience Allocation, granting
potential access of up to $700,000,000 in additional assistance for
similar projects: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the violence, targeting of civilians, and
terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS-Mozambique in the Cabo
Delgado Province;
(2) urges the Mozambican Government to--
(A) continue to work with international partners to
restore security in the Cabo Delgado Province and
counter violent extremism and terrorism in a manner
that prioritizes the protection of civilians and their
human rights;
(B) take steps to protect children from abduction,
forced conscription, and other forms of exploitation;
(C) ensure humanitarian workers have access to
vulnerable populations in the Cabo Delgado Province,
including by reducing bureaucratic constraints on
travel documents, humanitarian aid, and related
equipment;
(D) hold to account any government official who
sought to disrupt the equitable provision of
humanitarian assistance, or who diverted such
assistance, profited from its distribution, or
otherwise engage in exploitative or corrupt acts
relating to the acquisition or provision of
humanitarian aid;
(E) work with the international community to
document, investigate, and prosecute human rights
abuses and other crimes committed by state security
forces, militias, terrorists, and other armed actors,
and to build government capacities to accomplish such
outcomes; and
(F) develop comprehensive national strategies and
implementation plans to address underlying social,
political, and economic grievances of local populations
in the Cabo Delgado Province and neighboring provinces;
(3) calls on Mozambican community leaders and civil society
members in the Cabo Delgado Province to strengthen local
resiliencies and prevent targeting and other forms of
intercommunal violence and conflict;
(4) calls on the United States Government and other donor
governments to appropriately coordinate diplomatic, defense,
and development resources and continue to expand, where
possible, efforts to provide humanitarian assistance, promote
good governance, spur economic growth, and build the capacity
of the Government of Mozambique to counter terrorism and
violent extremism and address conflict through existing
programs, such as the Partnership for Regional East Africa
Counterterrorism (PREACT), and future interagency initiatives,
while ensuring respect for human rights and protection of
civilians;
(5) urges the Mozambican Northern Integrated Development
Agency to consult with local populations and civil society
groups in the Cabo Delgado Province and to ensure transparency
and accountability in the provision of development assistance;
and
(6) calls on the international donor community to support
continued humanitarian assistance, particularly in support of
Mozambique's Humanitarian Response Plan and local and national
aid organizations providing aid to populations in the Cabo
Delgado Province or other conflict-affected areas in
Mozambique.
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