Mozambique siege inquest recalls British manager’s sacrifice for evacuees
On 24 March 2021, ISIS-linked militants attacked Palma in northern Mozambique, driving foreign contractors, local workers and residents to shelter in the fortified Amarula Hotel. The siege became part of several days of violence that killed hundreds, and an inquest into the death of British project manager Philip Mawer has brought renewed attention to the ordeal and his actions.
Around 200 people were initially trapped in the hotel as communications failed and gunfire and mortar bombs struck the compound. South African security contractors began evacuating people by helicopter, with flights carrying six at a time; Mawer declined an offered place so that women and children could leave. The town was near a major gas development run by France’s Total, and Cabo Delgado province had been experiencing an Islamist insurgency since 2017.
- Militants besieged a hotel sheltering about 200 people in Palma.
- British contractor Philip Mawer gave up an evacuation place.
- The attack unfolded amid a long-running insurgency and gas project.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Horror and heroism in the three-day ‘Battle of Palma’: How ISIS-linked terrorists besieged a Mozambique hotel packed with foreign nationals… and the desperate fight for survival of those trapped inside”.