Difficult times for displaced families in Inhambane, Mozambique

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Difficult times for displaced families in Inhambane, Mozambique

7:17 CAT | 15 Jun 2016

More than 500 families have left their homes in the village of Pembe, Homoine district, Inhambane province since 2014 as a result of the political and military crisis playing out in their midst. Pembe is practically abandoned.

It started in January 2014, when fierce clashes between government forces and armed Renamo combatants occurred. In the small town of Pembe, fear drove many families to flee to places they considered safer.

There are few families left in Pembe and Catine, an adjacent area. The schools that are still open have low turnout and trade is practically non-existent.

On a visit to the area, DW Africa saw clear signs of neglect. The deputy director of Pembe primary school, Albertina Matsimbe, says that many children left with their parents and went to areas they considered safer, where they built new homes. “Many students left Pembe and enrolled in other schools. Now it is not easy for them to return. They are now in schools in Chijuirre, Hanhane, Phacule and other places.”

Little movement: local business dead

Felizarda Svanguane, a trader in the Pembe region since 2009, confirmed the departure of many people and complains about the lack of customers: “Now there is little custom at the stalls and shops. People left after armed conflict started up in 2014 and didn’t return. There are lots of houses with no-one living in them here now.”

In the Ndambine village headquarters in Homoine district, the local government set up a resettlement zone where more than two hundred families now live. Patricia Fungal and Eugenia Savanguane, two of the residents, say they have lost all their possessions. They left in a hurry in 2014, for fear of being killed “by government forces or Renamo guerrillas”.

“We left Pembe to come to Homoine because there was no security in the region. We had to sell the cattle we had in order to pay for our other goods to be transported,” Patricia Fungal says. “I don’t miss ever going back to Pembe,” says her friend Eugenia.

One of the many abandoned houses in Pembe

“Pembe needs a new population count”

The abandoned houses, derelict plots and half-empty classrooms led Inhambane provincial government to decide to conduct a population census in August 2016. Young people are already being recruited for the job, says Carlos Masango, spokesman to the local Administration office.

“From 1 to 15 August, we will conduct a population census to determine the total number of people living in the Pembe administrative post,” Masango says.

Homoine district administrator Josina Chissico confirms that there no longer many people living in Pembe “due to the presence of the two armed forces”. In recent months there have been more military confrontation, the administrator says.

“However, it must be said that we have major problems in Pembe, because the population moved away just like that. People went to live in other areas, so we are to do the census in order to know how many people there are. The fact is that many are already living in Chijuirre in the expansion neighbourhood there,” said the Homoine administrator