Mozambique: World Food Programme trying to restart operations in Macomia

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Mozambique: World Food Programme trying to restart operations in Macomia

7:09 CAT | 12 Aug 2024

Image: Google Maps

The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that it was working to resume operations in the Macomia district of Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique, after a suspension following a terrorist attack.

“WFP is working together with the other United Nations partners. Our security teams carried out a recent security assessment in Macomia. Notably, there are improvements on the security issue,” the WFP’s deputy director in Mozambique, Maurício Burtet, told Lusa on the sidelines of the signing ceremony for an agreement that will see Japan support the agency with funds for humanitarian assistance in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country.

The WFP, one of the main United Nations agencies supporting communities affected by terrorism in Cabo Delgado, suspended operations in the Macomia district of Cabo Delgado in May after an attack on the district headquarters.

“We don’t have a specific date for the resumption, but as soon as the conditions are created on the ground, the WFP will return with humanitarian assistance in the most affected communities in the Macomia district,” said Maurício Burtet.

READ: Japan provides US$2 million to provide food aid to displaced people in Cabo Delgado

Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion since October 2017, with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.

On 10 and 11 May, the district headquarters of Macomia was attacked by around a hundred insurgents, who looted the village, causing several deaths and heavy fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces.

People in other districts of the province have reported the movement of these groups of insurgents, who cause panic as they pass through the forests. Still, there have been no reports of clashes, which is happening at a time when farmers are trying to carry out harvest work in the fields.

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi said on June 16 that the action of the various defence forces had made it possible to wipe out “practically all” of the bases of the terrorist groups operating in Cabo Delgado, which are now limited to “walking in the bush”.

“The result of this combination of forces is surprising. They managed to disable the terrorists from all the towns and villages that had been occupied, destroyed practically all the enemy’s fixed bases, making them nomadic, and put many violent extremists out of action, including some of their main leaders,” said Nyusi, in Mueda, Cabo Delgado province.

The head of state acknowledged the efforts of the Armed Defence Forces of Mozambique, together with the Rwandan military, the mission of southern African countries and the Local Force, made up of former fighters in the national liberation struggle, in combating these groups over the last six years.

“They’re out there in the bush, but they no longer stay in one place because they’re afraid of being found,” the president added, about the actions of these insurgent groups in some districts of Cabo Delgado, renewing his appeal to the population “to continue to increase vigilance”.

Source: Lusa