Cabo Delgado causing “worst humanitarian crisis in the history of Mozambique”- researcher

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Cabo Delgado causing “worst humanitarian crisis in the history of Mozambique”- researcher

5:07 CAT | 22 Oct 2020

Displaced persons arrive in Pemba, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. [Photo courtesy: Dino Foi / Facebook]

The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Cabo Delgado has increased by about 2,000 percent in two years.

The Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) warns that the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado is already causing the worst humanitarian crisis in the history of Mozambique – and that the situation will only worsen, especially in the city of Pemba, which no longer has space to accommodate more IDPs.

Borges Nhamire, a CIP researcher carrying out an analysis of the armed violence in the north of the country, says that this is “the worst humanitarian crisis in the history of Mozambique since the civil war. The number of internally displaced persons increased by approximately two thousand percent over a two-year period”.

For his part, the CIP director Edson Cortez, who recently visited Pemba, says the IDPs arriving daily in the Cabo Delgado provincial capital all need help. It is vital that they “receive support as quickly as possible” to avoid a catastrophe, he says.

But Pemba is unable to accommodate any more IDPs, many of whom arrive sick and weak, Secretary of State for Cabo Delgado Armindo Ngunga says. Three women had even given birth during the boat trip to Pemba.

In the last four days, about 1,400 people arrived in Pemba from districts affected by terrorist attacks, such as Mocímboa da Praia, Quissanga and Macomia.

Idpsvp — *Thousands of war-displaced arrive on the Pemba coast with nothing but hope*

“The victims of the terrorist attacks urgently need assistance, given the seriousness of the situation in which they find themselves,” executive director of the Citizen Observatory for Health Jorge Matine insists,

This Wednesday, (21), the European Union said it was “closely monitoring” the situation in Cabo Delgado. At a daily press conference in Brussels, Nabila Massrali said that “the government of Mozambique and the EU have embarked on a policy of dialogue on humanitarian and security issues”, and that significant decisions would be taken in the near future.

Source: Voa Portugues