Rwanda’s armed forces claim to have killed about 70 Islamist insurgents during clashes in Mozambique’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado province over the past few weeks.

News of the latest clashes emerged late last week as Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive of TotalEnergies, operator of the stalled Mozambique LNG project, described the conflict as a "civil war" and suggested ExxonMobil had declared force majeure on the associated Rovuma LNG development.