THE brutal attack by Islamist militants on Palma in gas-rich Mozambique has abruptly ended months of relative calm in restive Cabo Delgado and brought into sharp relief the inability of the government's armed forces and police to deal with the insurgency in the emerging liquefied natural gas powerhouse. The assault forced French super-major Total to again stall work on its $20 billion Mozambique LNG project at Afungi, a vital future revenue source for Mozambique's impoverished economy, and raised serious concerns about continued investments in the region. "The attack on Palma has shown the insurgency is still virile, and the government is really overstretched and struggles to contain it," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at London-based policy institute Chatham House.
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