Cabo Delgado boundary bridge, north of Mozambique, August 4, 2009. Photo by F. Mira, CC BY-SA 2.0. Since October 2017, Mozambique has been experiencing armed conflict in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Several explanations have been offered about the causes of the conflict, but most remain unverified. Despite claims that the Islamic State is behind the attacks and intends to occupy the gas production areas in Mozambique, neither the perpetrators nor the origins of the violence have been identified. The absence of information creates a context conducive to continued violence because there is no one to hold accountable. Indeed, lack of information remains a major challenge in Mozambique’s conflict. Government, media and civil society all blame one another for the silence, claiming that there is no information. Civil society has accused the executive arm of government of failing to protect the media, while the media has been labeled a vector for the dissemination of fake news by the government. As a result, activists and human rights defenders launched a campaign in 2018 to raise awareness of the conflict, denounce human rights abuses, using hashtags and short publications to highlight the humanitarian crisis. The right to information has been violated during the ongoing conflict resulting in a chilling silence. Journalists have been arrested — and some disappeared — for their work including Ibraimo Mbaruco who has been missing since early 2020. Before his disappearance, he warned through family sources that he had been questioned by both police and military. In February 2021, British journalist Tom Bowker, who had been covering an insurgency in northern Mozambique, was expelled from the country and banned from returning for 10 years. The Mozambique branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), an organisation defending press freedom, contested Tom Bowker’s expulsion: Right, that's it then! Expelled from Mozambique and banned for 10 years. A politically motivated move, without legal foundation. Thanks to everyone who helped us fight it, and who made the last 6 years so wonderful. Até! pic.twitter.com/X8eEdVSgbA — Tom Bowker (@TomBowk) February 16, 2021 Similarly, activist Cidia Chissungo got together with Activista Mozambique Movement — a civil society movement — and initiated the Hands for Justice online Twitter campaign: Are you there? Can you help me with this campaign? You Just have to write somewhere #FreeAmade and share it. @FNyusi everyone have the right to know everything going on in the north of the country because #CaboDelgado is also Mozambique. Lets demand together for JUSTICE pic.twitter.com/L7bKBXhPP9 — Cídia Chissungo (@Cidiachissungo) February 25, 2019 And the violations are not solely concentrated in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. In April 2021, police officers detained in the capital Pemba briefly Hizidine Acha, a journalist for the largest Mozambican private media group SOICO, forcing him to delete images on his phone and camera allegedly showing the officers beating people. These attacks on journalists represent an escalation of violations to the right to information in Mozambique. Since 2015, the country has dropped 19 places on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index. And the violations are not solely concentrated in Cabo Delgado. On December 8, Mozambique was downgraded from “obstructed” to “repressed” in a new report by the CIVICUS Monitor, a research collaboration that rates and tracks fundamental freedoms globally. According to the report, the downgrade springs from unwarranted restrictions on freedom of expression and a deteriorating environment for human rights defenders and civil society. Physical attacks and the intimidation and harassment of journalists and activists have increased all over the country. But Cabo Delgado remains the region of most concern. In October 2021, Human Rights Watch denounced the lack of access to information during the conflict in Mozambique, saying: International media groups continue to report unnecessary restrictions in getting permission from state institutions to access districts in northern Cabo Delgado, and local journalists continue to suffer harassment and intimidation from government security forces. We urge the Mozambican government to stop silencing the media in Cabo Delgado, and immediately allow public scrutiny of the military operations in the province. Internet access is a challenge for many Mozambicans. Only 7 million (21 percent) people of the total population of 31 million use the internet. 3 million are users are on social networks, representing a penetration of 9.5 percent. However, the internet is frequently used for services like banking and mobile money.