Mozambique: Displaced people refuse to settle in Niassa – DW

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Mozambique: Displaced people refuse to settle in Niassa – DW

8:06 CAT | 05 Jan 2023

Image: Roberto Paquete/DW

Provincial government leaders in Niassa, northern Mozambique, are concerned about the situation of 4,234 displaced people who are refusing to settle in the province and want to return to Cabo Delgado, despite insecurity there.

More than 900 families displaced from Cabo Delgado province by terrorism are rejecting government and social aid in Niassa province, still hoping to return to their areas of origin.

The displaced are offered plots for housing and land for agriculture, which are not being used.

Niassa National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) delegate Friday Taibo says that this has been the case for two years.

The displaced, he reports, are taken to experience the conditions in which others similarly affected find themselves, in the hope of inspiring them to settle in the region.

“We have already taken displaced people to Mecula to what happened to the population of Mecula who went back to rebuild their homes there, and we went back to Malica, where nothing happened either. We took some displaced to Corane, to see the manner of construction,” he relates.

“We told them to cut stakes [for building], but they said that they didn’t want to cut them – they wanted us to bring the stakes,” he says.

Conditions created

Dinis Vilanculo, Secretary of State for Niassa province, says that the displaced had long been offered plots for the construction of homes.

Displmoz.dw_ — *Children in a camp for displaced people in Niassa. [Photo: Roberto Paquete/DW]*

“We made a plan here in 2020, but they rejected it,” he begins by relating. “Even those in Marrupa, when we showed them the plots, said ‘No, we’ll be back to Cabo Delgado in no time’,” Vilanculo recalls .

Governor of Niassa Judite Massengele says she is concerned about the situation of the displaced people, claiming it is necessary for the population to be sensitised because, if the situation persists, the government will no longer be able to provide help.

“It will reach a point where we won’t even be able to give them a kilogram of rice, or a tent. That’s my concern. They say they’re going to leave, but when will they?” she asks.

“Perhaps we have to do some awareness-raising work, because I don’t see that we can continue to set up tents for ever,” she stresses. “Sleeping in tents is sleeping on the ground.”

Source: Deutsche Welle