Mozambique: Cabotage Society offers aid to displaced people in Cabo Delgado

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Cabotage Society offers aid to displaced people in Cabo Delgado

3:42 CAT | 06 Aug 2020

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican Cabotage Society (SMC), which manages the project to revitalise coastal shipping in the country, has made itself available to transport cargo and goods to help people displaced by the armed violence in the north of the country, an official statement announces.

“SMC decided to support the initiative, making space available on its ships so that goods and donations collected can arrive faster and all together in Nampula and Pemba, where most of the displaced people are concentrated,” said Pedro Monjardino, project manager at SMC, quoted in a statement.

“We have the advantage of having a means of transport to be able to take food and other goods to those who need it most, and couldn’t remain indifferent,” he added.

The initiative takes place within the scope of the Movimento Vamoz’s “Todos por Cabo Delgado” campaign.

The first phase of the campaign took place between 28 July and 5 August with the aim of filling two containers in a combined effort between commercial companies and civil society.

Vamoz Movement coordinator Joana Martins said that “response [to the campaign] was a little timid”, and the group had so far been unable to fill the two containers.

The initiative’s promoters are now organising a second appeal involving the collection of goods from supermarkets, as well as other actions.

“This is not a sprint, but a marathon that will last a long time, given the immense needs of the population of Cabo Delgado,” she observed.

Among the action partners are the Port of Maputo, Makobo, Activists of Mozambique Movement and the Catholic University.

The provincial capital, Pemba, has been the main refuge for people seeking shelter and safety in Cabo Delgado, but some have chosen to flee to other places, including the neighbouring provinces of Niassa and Nampula.

According to the United Nations, armed violence in Cabo Delgado has forced 250,000 people to flee from districts affected by insecurity in the north of the province. The conflict has already killed at least 1,000 people, with some of the armed actions claimed by the ‘jihadist’ Islamic State (IS) group.

Source: Lusa