Mozambique: Displaced people continue to fee into Pemba – AIM

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Mozambique: Displaced people continue to fee into Pemba – AIM

5:39 CAT | 29 Jul 2020

Displaced people are continuing to stream into Pemba, capital of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, despite the warning from the city’s mayor, Florete Motarua, that the city has run out of space to accommodate them.

ALSO READ: Pemba mayor says there is no more space to accommodate those displaced by insurgency

According to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, several boats arrived between Thursday and Saturday at Pemba’s Paquitiquete beach, fleeing from attacks by islamist terrorists further north.

By about 17.00 on Saturday evening about 800 people had disembarked on the beach. This latest batch of displaced people came from villages in Macomia and Mocimboa da Praia districts.

Among those who received the displaced are some business people who themselves have fled from Macomia, and are now operating in Pemba.

The Catholic Church has taken the initiative to launch a national solidarity campaign, entitled “Together for Cabo Delgado”, to raise support for the victims of the terrorist attacks. The campaign is coordinated by the Pemba diocesan branch of the Catholic charity Caritas.

Interviewed by the independent television station STV, the Bishop of Pemba, Luis Fernando Lisboa, said the displaced people fleeing to Pemba “have lost almost everything”. They need food, clothing, sleeping mats, blankets, and shelter, he said.

Meanwhile, a local Islamic leader, Sheik Bacar Saide, who was seized by members of the defence and security forces in Pemba last Friday, has been set free, reports the newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.

The newsheet’s sources said Saide was released on Sunday after interrogation. They said he had been detained after neighbours denounced him “because they didn’t understand his life style”.

Saide’s captors were members of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the Mozambican equivalent of the riot police). They asked him about the sources of his income, and he told them he receives a pension from the national social security system. Three people living with Saide were also detained, but they too were released without charge.