Mozambique: Calls for rescue of 600 civil servants, stranded after fleeing Palma – Lusa report

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Mozambique: Calls for rescue of 600 civil servants, stranded after fleeing Palma – Lusa report

6:42 CAT | 26 Mar 2021

in file CoM

The National Human Rights Commission of Mozambique this Friday called for support to rescue around 600 civil servants who are currently in the vicinity of Palma town.

“We, as the National Human Rights Commission, are making contacts,with the National Institute for Disaster Management, non-governmental organisations which have some capacity to act, to see if they can, thrugh a humanitarian operation, help those people”, said Luís Bitone, president of the National Commission on Human Rights, quoted by the TV channel STV.

According to Bitone, about 600 civil servants, who fled after Wednesday’s attack on Palm, are currently “in an intermediate zone and waiting for any help”.

“It is a concern for all of us and we are trying, based on all our capabilities, to see if we can find a quick intervention to help those citizens,” said Luís Bitone.

The Mozambican Defence Ministry on Thursday morning confirmed that the town of Palma, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado came under terrorist attack on Wednesday.

The brief Ministry statement said the terrorists attacked the town from three directions, and obliged residents to seek safety by fleeing into the nearby bush.

The defence and security forces, said the Ministry, “are pursuing the enemy and are working tirelessly to re-establish security and order as quickly as possible”. It urged the civilian population “to remain vigilant and calm, while seeking safe spaces”.

Members of the public, it continued, “should continue collaborating with the authorities by denouncing the terrorists and armed men, so that they may be neutralised”.

The Ministry added that all mobile phone communications with Palma town and district have been cut. The statement admitted that so far the government does not have information on the number of casualties or the scale of the damage.

Several sources told Lusa on Wednesday that the population of Palma was leaving the village and taking refuge in the forest, a scenario also confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.

Also according to testimonies, workers of different nationalities linked to works in the region of Palma, where gas projects in northern Mozambique are taking place, fled together with the population after the attack by armed groups on the district headquarters.

Several companies and their staff are based in Palma town, due to the ongoing investments there.

The number of affected workers and their nationalities is uncertain, but some sources have reported to Lusa the situation in Palma, which until now had been spared three and a half years from an armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado, which is causing a humanitarian crisis with almost 700,000 internally displaced people and more than 2,000 deaths.

Source: Lusa