Mozambique: Pemba received 3,591 displaced by Palma attack- government

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Mozambique: Pemba received 3,591 displaced by Palma attack- government

7:57 CAT | 06 Apr 2021

Photo: Lusa

A total of 3,591 people who fled the attack on Palma, northern Mozambique, were received in Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado province, the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD) announced on Monday.

According to INGD, it took 43 air flights and four ship journeys to transport the displaced people, and those who had no family or friends to receive them were sheltered in five transit centres.

The INGD report indicates that of the 3,591 people who arrived in Pemba, 669 are children and 529 are women, indicating that three of these women gave birth during the trips.

Of the five transit centres that were operating in the city, at least three have already been closed, and currently only the Home of Hope and a sports complex in the Expansão neighbourhood are functioning, with a total of 253 people.

The “new wave” of displaced people requires “urgent humanitarian aid”, says the INGD.

The town of Palma, about six kilometres from Total’s natural gas project, suffered an armed attack on 24 March that Mozambican authorities say resulted in the deaths of dozens of people and the flight of thousands.

According to a flash update issued on AApril 2 by United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), some 9,900 people, almost half of them children,who fled Palma due to the violence and since March 24 had reached the districts of Nangade, Mueda, Montepuez and Pemba.

In Pemba, the last large boat with displaced people arrived on Thursday, with 1,200 of those taking refuge near the gas projects compound in Afungi.

The violence in the northernmost districts of the province began three years ago and is causing a humanitarian crisis with 700,000 displaced people and more than 2,000 deaths.

Source: Lusa