Cabo Delgado Escape Stories: “The Returnees” – DW

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Cabo Delgado Escape Stories: “The Returnees” – DW

8:11 CAT | 10 Jan 2023

Photo: DW

The gradual return of displaced people is a fact, and the result of military offensives against terrorists. In the last episode of “Escape Stories”, DW talks about those who took the risk and decided to return home to rebuild their lives.

Military offensives against terrorists in northern Mozambique, carried out by the Defence and Security Forces, Rwandan troops and the Southern African Development Community mission (SAMIM) allowed some stability to be re-established.

This scenario has led to the gradual return of some internally displaced people, who, once home, began their lives again. In this sixth and final episode of ‘Escape Stories’, by DW, we talk about people who have returned to Mocimboa da Praia after having previously fled due to insecurity.

Many residents, especially young people, are now starting to return to the district of Mocímboa da Praia and other parts of Cabo Delgado. They are trying to rebuild their businesses or resume farming, fishing and other activities.

Rachid Abdala is one of the young entrepreneurs who decided to return home, after a flight driven by violent extremism.

“I have been three months here. [The security situation] is already good and we are getting on well,” he says.

Like several other natives and residents of Mocimboa da Praia who were forced to leave the region by the escalation of violence in 2020, young Rachid had to find shelter with relatives in the district of Montepuez, in the extreme south of Cabo Delgado. .

But life was never the same, he says. He experienced difficulty feeding himself and his wife and two children.

Mocimboacd.dw_ — *People have hope again [Photo: Anacleto Delfim/DW]*

A new hope

But Rachid Abdala has hope again. The terrorists occupying his district were neutralized in operations involving the SDF and foreign military partners.

“People say that in Mocimboa [da Praia] nowadays there is no life, but there is life here and we here are getting on well and are happy,” he asserts.

This young man did not want to wait any longer. With the money he got from odd jobs he did in Montepuez, where he had taken refuge, Rachid reopened his cosmetics stall in the Mocimboa da Praia district headquarters village.

“Business is going well. We are asking for people to come back here to Mocimboa da Praia. We have merchandise but we still don’t have many customers, [because] other people are [still] too afraid to come back,” he says.

Despite considering the climate currently stable, he appeals to the authorities.

“We are asking the government to help us, the population, to be well and not to think about many things, because until now there are people with difficulties [fears] in their heads, so we have to try every way to remove any doubts they might have,” he appealed.

“Life is good”

Fabião Tiago is another victim of terrorism in Mocimboa da Praia. When he fled in 2020, he crossed the Rovuma river and took refuge in neighbouring Tanzania. In March, 2022. He returned to the country but settled in the district of Mueda, where he farmed.

He has now returned to Mocimboa da Praia to check the security environment. In an interview with DW Africa, he says he likes what he has found in his homeland.

“I was coming to visit but what I’m seeing now is that life is good. Soon, I will return to Mocimboa to live,” Tiago says.

To build life, indeed to rebuild, is what many internally displaced people want when they return home, where virtually everything has been demolished by terrorist actions.

By Delfim Anacleto

Source: Deutsche Welle