Attack on Palma: Victims evacuated to Pemba by air – O País

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Attack on Palma: Victims evacuated to Pemba by air – O País

3:17 CAT | 29 Mar 2021

Photo: O País

Several victims of the attack on the village of Palma, last Wednesday, continue to arrive in the city of Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado, by air.

The evacuation of Palma residents has been taking place from the early hours of this morning.

‘O País’ witnessed the arrival of some of the displaced this afternoon, including a mother with a baby who was born in the woods while fleeing the terrorists.

“The lady gave birth unaided, during the escape. They stopped just for her to give birth, then tied their capulanas between two sticks and carried her, because she couldn’t walk,” a member of an association for the protection of women and girls said.

Visibly shaken, one of the survivors tells how, in the blink of an eye, he was robbed of his wife, his children and two brothers, finding himself totally alone. “I lost five family members – my wife, my two children and two little brothers,” he related.

Our reporting team learned that the rescue of these people only became possible because they reached locations which had mobile communications access, allowing them to communicate with people based in the provincial capital, who they asked for help.

Struck by how much DAG have filled the information vacuum around Palma in the last few days (versus, say, the Mozambican government). https://t.co/r1Se38v4sQ

— Joseph Cotterill (@jsphctrl) March 29, 2021

Lionel Dyck, founder of private military company DAG, told the BBC’s @BBCWorldatOne just now that the Mozambican military did not join the fight in Palma until yesterday.

He also slams Total who “have done nothing” and wouldn’t give DAG’s helicopters fuel.

— Tom Bowker (@TomBowk) March 29, 2021