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Mozambique: Pemba-Maputo air bridge carries gas personnel rescued from Palma – Lusa
10:23 CAT | 29 Mar 2021
Around 1,300 people arrived in Pemba by boat on Sunday. [Photo: CDD Moçambique on Facebook]
An air bridgei has been set up between Pemba and Maputo to remove almost 1,300 people from northern Mozambique who were rescued on Saturday by ship from Palma district, the target of armed attacks on Wednesday, a source from Total told Lusa late on Sunday.
The operation is expected to run until Monday, said the same source, during ongoing operations in the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado.
The flights mainly carry workers linked to the gas project from northern Mozambique to the Mozambican capital, 1,700 kilometres to the south, from where they will have a connection to their provinces or to other countries, in the case of foreign employees, he added.
A group of Portuguese workers boarded the first plane that took off from Pemba for Maputo at 1 p.m. Sunday (12 p.m. in Lisbon), about three hours after the Sea Star 1, a ferry belonging to Zan Fast Ferries, arrived at the port of Pemba, one of the members of the group told Lusa.
The shipping company usually makes connections between Tanzania’s mainland and the Zanzibar archipelago, and this time it carried out the special mission between Afungi and the capital of Cabo Delgado.
According to the Pemba port authorities, a second ship is expected Monday, carrying mainly displaced people from Palma district, 200 kilometres north of the provincial capital.
Two sources from humanitarian organisations contacted in Pemba said that except for the return of some professionals stationed in Palma, such as teachers, there had been no record so far from a massive influx of displaced people, which happened after other waves of attacks in 2020.
This Sunday, all movement in areas where the people who arrived on the ship circulated took place under heavy security measures, in areas closed to journalists by the Defence and Security Forces (FDS).
Some people approached by Lusa outside the restricted areas refused to provide information on the events in Palma. A company employee was interrupted by an alleged superior while giving an interview to Mozambican public television(TVM) at the gates of Pemba airport.
In Maputo, journalists were also prevented by security forces from approaching passengers on arrival.
The district headquarters town that hosts northern Mozambique’s gas projects was attacked on Wednesday by insurgent groups that have been terrorising the region for three and a half years.
Dozens of civilians, including seven people trying to flee the main hotel in Palma, northern Mozambique, were killed by the armed group that attacked the town on Wednesday, the Mozambican Defence Ministry said today.
The violence is causing a humanitarian crisis with nearly 700,000 displaced people and more than 2,000 deaths.
Source: Lusa
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