Mozambique: 670,000 IDPs among 950,000 people facing severe hunger – UN

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: 670,000 IDPs among 950,000 people facing severe hunger – UN

9:42 CAT | 26 Feb 2021

File photo: For illustration purposes only. [File photo: DW]

The number of people internally displaced by the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique (IDPs) rose to 670,000 in December, the United Nations announced in the most recent update of data compiled by humanitarian agencies.

In addition to the people who fled their homes, mostly children and young people, many of the communities that have received them are also under pressure. A total of nearly 950,000 people in Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula are facing severe hunger, 242,000 of them children with severe malnutrition.

Agriculture has been abandoned and markets destroyed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says.

“Communities in the least-affected areas of Cabo Delgado, as well as in the neighbouring provinces of Niassa and Nampula, are showing incredible solidarity and generosity towards displaced people fleeing the crisis,” an OCHA spokesperson commented.

More than 90% are staying “with family and friends”, a situation that “is putting enormous pressure on the already scarce resources of the host communities”.

On the other hand, “insecurity has increased the cost of basic products in many parts of Cabo Delgado, especially in areas particularly affected by the conflict, including the districts of Palma, Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia”.

The OCHA also highlights the increase in cholera cases, especially among IDPs: 55 deaths and almost 5,000 cases had been recorded by February 14, 2021, with the highest number in the Metuge district, where several accommodation camps have been set up.

The conflict has damaged or destroyed a third of the health facilities in Cabo Delgado province, mostly in Mocímboa da Praia, Macomia, Muidumbe and Quissanga districts.

Armed attacks have multiplied since 2017, some claimed by the Islamic State ‘jihadist’ group for a year and a half, but there is no certainty as to who is behind the organized violence the Armed and Defence Forces of Mozambique are facing.

The Cabo Delgado region is rich in precious stones and timber, and the locus of the largest private investment in Africa – for the extraction of natural gas, from 2024.

Several international reports indicate that the province’s coast is a stop on drug trafficking routes, especially for heroin.

Source: Deutsche Welle