Mozambique: President launches emergency programme in Pemba

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Mozambique: President launches emergency programme in Pemba

10:22 CAT | 28 Apr 2021

Survivors of the Palma attack in a Pemba sports facility, operating as a transit centre. [Photo: MSF]

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi will travel to Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, this Wednesday to launch an emergency project budgeted at US$100 million (€82.7 million) to support the region affected by terrorist attacks, the government said.

Nyusi will preside in Pemba, the provincial capital, over the signing ceremony of the agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

A government source explained to Lusa that the funding was obtained via a donation from the World Bank to the Northern Integrated Development Agency (ADIN) under MADER’s supervision, and UNOPS was responsible for implementation.

Also read: Breaking: Armindo Ngunga appointed chairman of ADIN

The funds will be used to build health units, schools, and services in a province affected by a serious humanitarian crisis.

“The implementation of the emergency project by UNOPS aims to make the experience and knowledge of this United Nations organisation available to the Mozambican government,” the Presidency said in a statement.

Nyusi’s visit to Pemba comes about a month after the attack on the town of Palma (on 24 March), which caused an as yet undetermined number of deaths and wounded of various nationalities and 28,600 internally displaced persons, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Also read: Government announces 21 villages for Cabo Delgado displaced, but some express misgivings – VOA report

The Mozambican authorities regained control of the town, but the attack led oil company Total to abandon the site of the gas project indefinitely in that district with production due to begin in 2024 and on which many of Mozambique’s economic growth expectations for the next decade are anchored.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has led to more than 2,500 deaths according to the conflict registration project ACLED and 714,000 displaced according to the Mozambican government.

Source: Lusa