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Aid worker ambushed, killed in Mozambique: French NGO
9:52 CAT | 23 Nov 2022
“The murder of our colleague and the civilians travelling with him shocks and repels us. In Mozambique or elsewhere, the civilian population should never be targeted. Our first thoughts are with the victims and their families, loved ones and all our colleagues, affected by the sudden loss of one of our members,” said Kevin Goldberg, Director General of Solidarites International [ Image: Twitter / @Solidarites_Int]
An aid worker has been killed in an ambush by an armed group in Mozambique’s restive northern province of Cabo Delgado, French NGO Solidarites said Tuesday, with local media reporting four more fatalities.
The aid agency said in a statement ([please, see full statement by Solidarites below] that its members “are in a state of shock at the news of the death of one of their colleagues, in an attack perpetrated by an armed group on Sunday”, along a road in the district from Muidumbe to Palma.
The weekend attack victim was a Mozambican in his 30s, a spokeswoman for the Paris-based NGO told AFP.
Mozambican news site Zitamar reported five deaths, including the head of Palma police operations, his wife and nephew, as well as the aid worker.
The NGO spokeswoman confirmed that others had been killed in the attack, but added that she had no further details and did not confirm the five deaths cited by Zitamar.
“The local official was travelling privately from Pemba to Palma, returning from the weekend, to join Solidarites International’s distribution activities” when the car he was travelling in was targeted.
It is with great sadness that I learnt of the death of two civilians, including one humanitarian aid worker from @Solidarites_Int in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. Deepest condolences to the family and friends of the victims.
Humanitarian workers and civilians are #NotATarget‼️#IHL https://t.co/i45RY6tBVv
— Janez Lenarčič (@JanezLenarcic) November 22, 2022
The coastal town of Palma was hit in a deadly raid in March last year, forcing French oil giant TotalEnergies to halt its $20 billion LNG project.
The French NGO, which is present in 23 countries, went into Cabo Delgado to provide water, sanitation, emergency shelter and food assistance following a surge in jihadist violence.
The insurgency erupted in October 2017 when fighters — since proclaimed to be affiliated to the Islamic State group — attacked coastal areas close to the Tanzanian border.
More than 3,000 forces from Rwanda and southern African countries deployed last year have since helped Mozambique push the militants out of their strongholds.
But the jihadist threat remains very far from over, despite the military gains.
The conflict has so far claimed more than 4,400 lives, around 2,000 of them civilians, according to global conflict tracking organisation Acled. About a million people have fled their homes.
We strongly condemns the attack against civilians that killed a member of our local team in Mozambique
- Published on Tuesday 22 November 2022
[Paris, November 22nd 2022] The entire staff of the NGO SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL are shocked following the announcement of the death of one of their colleagues, victim of an attack by an armed group, on Sunday, November 20th 2022, on a road in the district of Muidumbe towards Palma, in the Province of Cabo-Delgado, in Mozambique.
This member of the local staff of the organization was travelling privately from Pemba, towards Palma, to join the distribution activities of SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL, when the car he was in was targeted.
“The murder of our colleague and the civilians travelling with him shocks and repels us. In Mozambique or elsewhere, the civilian population should never be targeted. Our first thoughts are with the victims and their families, loved ones and all our colleagues, affected by the sudden loss of one of our members,” said Kevin Goldberg, Director General of the NGO SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL.
Mozambique has been affected since 2017 by a conflict between an extremist group, Ansar al-Sunna, which has pledged allegiance to the EIAC (Islamic State in Central Africa), and Mozambican security forces supported by various allies. The violence caused by the conflict is leading to population displacement and an increasingly rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation, particularly in the northern regions of the country, which were already among the poorest before the conflict.
The NGO SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL intervened in the country in March 2019 following Cyclone Idai and then again in 2021, to respond to the increase in violence in the province of Cabo Delgado, through water, sanitation and hygiene projects, emergency shelter and food assistance.
The entire staff of @Solidarites_Int supports the family and loved ones of our colleague, victim of an attack by an armed group in #Mozambique.https://t.co/D9KaVaRdsJ
— SOLIDARITÉS INT (@Solidarites_Int) November 22, 2022
Source: AFP / Solidarites International
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