Journalist Tom Bowker has been covering the Islamist insurgency in the far north of the country.
Journalist and editor Tom Bowker, an important source of reliable news from the conflict in northern Mozambique, is set to be deported from the country this week.
It seems the Mozambique authorities want him out because of his comprehensive reporting on the growing extremist insurgency in the country’s northernmost province Cabo Delgado.
As founder and editor of the respected Zitamar newsletter, a partner in the bulletin Cabo Ligado, Bowker’s journalism has often reflected the Mozambique government’s failure to counter the insurgency.
The insurgents have become ever more deeply entrenched in Cabo Delgado and have occupied the important port town of Mocimboa da Praia since early August 2020.
Joseph Hanlon, veteran chronicler of the Mozambique scene, disclosed Bowker’s imminent expulsion in his own newsletter last week.
He said Bowker, a British citizen, who has been a journalist in Mozambique for seven years, had been ordered to leave the country by Saturday. “The expulsion is entirely unofficial – there is nothing in writing,” Hanlon said. Daily Maverick was able to confirm Bowker’s expulsion independently and reliably – although other sources said he has to leave by…