Mozambique: Niassa province needs tents for fleeing school children to learn

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Mozambique: Niassa province needs tents for fleeing school children to learn

7:07 CAT | 21 Jan 2022

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The spread of armed attacks in northern Mozambique to Niassa province will mean tents will be needed to replace schools that have been destroyed and the flight of residents, the authorities announced on Friday.

Mecula, one of the affected districts, needs 20 tents for the new school year that starts on 31 January, announced Luciano Mitimbo, director of the district services for Education, Youth and Technology.

In all, 852 pupils are coming from various remote villages along with the population who have fled areas attacked in the last months of 2021.

The armed groups vandalised seven schools and one administrative block.

In addition to spaces created in tents, Mitimbo said some pupils would be accommodated in a primary school in Mecula.

Meanwhile, in coordination with partners, the council of the state representation services in the district is working to build conventional classrooms for the children.

In northern Mozambique, armed attacks raging in Cabo Delgado province for four years reached neighbouring Niassa province in December.

Sporadic attacks on remote locations have caused the flight of some 3,000 people and the death of at least five others.

Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The conflict has led to more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

Since July, an offensive by government troops with the support of Rwanda later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) allowed for increased security, but clashes continue in several points in northern Mozambique.

Source: Lusa