Mozambique’s People Should Come Before Resources

Is an obsession with gas profits leading African countries to neglect the security of local populations?

The discovery of large gas deposits in the Rovuma Basin off the coast of northern Mozambique in 2011 made Mozambicans dream of prosperity. They hoped the country would become one of Africa’s largest producers and exporters of liquefied natural gas, with state revenues estimated at US$100 billion over 20 years.

Seven years later, however, a deadly armed insurgency emerged in the region, largely…