Qualla: Battle of Palma

Battle of Palma: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit BlookyNapsta, CC BY-SA 4.0. "As I sit here, Palma is lost." Lionel Dyck, director of the South African private military contractor Dyck Advisory Group, delivered this assessment on 27 March 2021, three days into an assault that had overwhelmed Mozambican security forces, trapped hundreds of civilians and foreign workers, and turned a small coastal town in Cabo Delgado province into a war zone. Palma -- a quiet settlement near one of Africa's largest natural gas deposits -- had become the focal point of an insurgency that had been tearing through northern Mozambique since 2017, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands more.

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Image: BlookyNapsta | CC BY-SA 4.0

Battle of Palma: A Slow-Burning Crisis

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC0. The insurgency in Cabo Delgado had been escalating for years before it reached Palma. Beginning in 2017, Islamist rebels -- loosely associated with the Islamic State through its Central Africa Province -- carried out attacks across the northern province, massacring civilians in 2...

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Image: CC0

Battle of Palma: Three Directions at Once

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mqondisi Dube (VOA), Public domain. On 24 March, more than a hundred militants attacked Palma from three directions in coordinated strikes. They had infiltrated the town beforehand, disguised as civilians, soldiers, and police -- some wearing uniforms of the Rapid Intervention Unit, the Mozambican police's special ...

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Image: Mqondisi Dube (VOA) | Public domain

Battle of Palma: Escape and Abandonment

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), CC BY-SA 3.0. The evacuations from Palma became a story of triage under fire -- and of who was prioritized for rescue. The vessel Sea Star, protected by a Mozambican navy craft, pulled out mostly Total SE staff. DAG helicopters continued flying missions to extract people hiding in the bush aro...

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Image: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Palma: Palma After the Battle

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Carport, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 4 April, the Mozambican government declared Palma fully recaptured. But a Sky News team reporting from the town was hastily evacuated after hearing gunfire, and sporadic rebel raids continued through April and May. By August 2021, just one hundred civilians were living in what...

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Image: Carport | CC BY-SA 3.0