Mozambique: Hundreds fleeing Palma attacks reach Tanzania border, call for help – Lusa

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Mozambique: Hundreds fleeing Palma attacks reach Tanzania border, call for help – Lusa

12:07 CAT | 29 Mar 2021

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Hundreds of people who fled Palma, in Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, during Wednesday’s attack by armed rebels are arriving at the country’s border with Tanzania, at Namoto on the River Rovuma, and are appealing for help, one of their number told Lusa on Monday.

Between 200 and 500 people are already at the riverside settlement about 50 kilometres from the district capital of Palma, according to Denis Iloko, who told Lusa by telephone that he was unable to give a number for those displaced because “it continues to increase”.

The refugees, who include many children, have all been been walking since Wednesday through the bush after leaving everything behind when armed groups entered their village.

“We have many children here,” he said. “Many children are dying in the bush. One lady gave [birth] here and was rescued [and brought into] Tanzania.”

The group Iloko was with fled northwards the very day of the attack, reaching Namoto after three days’ walking without food and water, and in deadly terror.

Since Wednesday, he said, “people have been captured and others have died” on the way.

“Those who were lucky”, managed to “walk through the night to now make the crossing.

“We are afraid,” he went on. “We are asking for help so that the government can coordinate with Tanzania” for transport, he said, alluding to the “big barge” that usually carries people across the river.

Alefo, another man who fled from Palma to Namoto, said that one boat had already taken a first group of displaced people, who are aiming for the district capital of Mueda, further inland in Cabo Delgado.

“A boat took a group, but it hasn’t come back yet,” he said. “The number of people is increasing. I think there are five hundred people here and others are arriving.”

Palma, the site of huge natural gas projects, was on Wednesday attacked by insurgent groups that have been terrorising the region for more than three years now.

Several dozen civilians, including seven people fleeing from the main hotel in Palma, were killed by the armed group on Wednesday, Mozambique’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday.

During an operation on Friday to rescue expatriates at the hotel, one Portuguese national was seriously injured and was later transferred to Johannesburg, in neighbouring South Africa, a government source told Lusa on Sunday.

The violence in the region in recent years has caused a humanitarian crisis, with almost 700,000 people displaced and more than 2,000 deaths.

Source: Lusa