View of the fire that tore through the island, and which was started by jihadists seeking to grow their influence in Africa
At 3 o’clock last Saturday morning, Tessa and Craig Mcdonald’s Jack Russell dog started barking.
Tessa looked outside bleary-eyed and saw that the luxury resort they manage on Sita, the most southerly island in Mozambique’s picturesque Quirimbas Archipelago, was on fire.
She and her husband ran to get the guests, when they then saw another fire raging far off in the distance. The South African couple quickly realised that this was no accident and that they were probably under attack from suspected Islamists who are wreaking havoc across northern Mozambique.
They ran to a boat and hurriedly called a mercenary group who were hired earlier this year by the Mozambican government to provide air cover against the insurgents and begged for help. Soon after, a helicopter from the Dyck Advisory Group arrived and hovered overhead, as the boat was being loaded with terrified guests, hotel workers and children. The helicopter then escorted the boat as dawn was breaking to the port city of Pemba, the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado on the mainland.
In the last week, two pristine Indian Ocean island resorts off the coast of Mozambique were turned into a war zone by militants linked to Islamic State. The situation is still developing, but it is believed Islamists were responsible for the fires on Sita Island.
The raids are the latest chapter in a horrific bush war which has been raging across Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province since October 2017.
View of Vamizi Island in less troubled times
The conflict is one of the least understood in the world. Mysterious insurgents, who claim allegiance to IS in the Middle East, have tried to dominate the northern province.
Fighting between the insurgents and security forces has displaced more than 250,000 people and cost the lives of at least 1,500 men, women and children. People fleeing south speak of mass Islamic State-style beheadings, summary executions by security forces, rape and torture.
Henry Pitman, a British businessman, who won a 50-year lease for Vamizi Island some 15 years ago told The Telegraph that the recent attacks have been “devastating.”
For more than a decade he has spent vast amounts of money turning Vamizi into a luxury tourism conservation centre, providing jobs for locals and protecting the surrounding coral reef and marine life.
In 2006, Mandela stood by the Mozambican President as he opened Mr Pitman’s resort. A raft of A-list celebrities including Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig and Emma Watson have visited the resort. But now the dream seems over, but he said he will return and rebuild his luxury lodge burned down last Friday after invaders raided food stocks on the island.
Image shows aftermath of the fire
Kevin Record, a South African investor, owns some 14 lodges on Ibo Island, an old trading post used by Arab and Chinese traders for centuries.
In normal times, tourists would flock to the Island which some claim was visited by the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama on his voyage to India in the 15th century. But now the war means the tourists no longer come to gawk at dolphins and sip cocktails in the sun.
“I don’t know how we will survive. I invested everything I had here,” Mr Record said: “Every single island has been closed by the war since the British issued a travel advisory 18 months ago.”
Jasmine Opperman, an analyst at the Armed Conflict Location Data Project, pointed out that the attack on Vamizi indicated that insurgents’ food supplies were running low.
She suggested that the attacks on the islands may be an attempt to create a diversion and spread the fighting away from the small northern port Mocimboa da Praia which they attacked last month and still occupy.
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