Mozambique: About 20,000 displaced people to get drinking water by end of May

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Mozambique: About 20,000 displaced people to get drinking water by end of May

8:44 CAT | 23 Apr 2021

File photo: Lusa

Around 20,000 people in rehousing centres displaced by armed attacks in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, will benefit from drinking water by the end of May, an official source said today.

In total, 66 boreholes will be drilled in 21 local villages, according to the secretary of state of Cabo Delgado province, Armindo Ngunga.

He was speaking on Thursday in Pemba at the end of a meeting with the contractors in charge of drilling the boreholes.

According to Armindo Ngunga, who did not give a budget, the boreholes may “alleviate the suffering of the families that have been resettled”.

“At least three contractors are 95% [for the conclusion of the works],” Armindo Ngunga said, adding that the government would continue its efforts to ensure that the deadlines for the execution of the works were observed.

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado since 2017, with some attacks claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has led to more than 2,500 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and 714,000 displaced people, according to the Mozambican government.

The most recent attack was on 24 March against the town of Palma, causing dozens of deaths and injuries in a still ongoing assessment.

The Mozambican authorities regained control of the town, but the attack led oil company Total to abandon indefinitely the site of the gas project scheduled to start production in 2024 and on which many of Mozambique’s economic growth expectations for the next decade are anchored.

Source: Lusa