On March 24 last year, al Shabaab rebels, aka Islamic State-Mozambique, who had controlled and spread mayhem in many parts of Cabo Delgado for over three years, attacked Palma.
The attack grabbed international headlines, partly because of the drama at the Amarula Palma Hotel, where 220 civilians had sought refuge.
The road to Palma starts at a fork in Afungi that leads to the port town of Mocímboa da Praia, which was the insurgents’ headquarters, and they would have liked to make a counterpoint to the events that started there in July.
