Mozambique: More displaced people, calls for greater international support

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Mozambique: More displaced people, calls for greater international support

8:08 CAT | 03 Jun 2021

Photo: Twitter / @NneNneUK

Mozambique’s minister of foreign affairs on Wednesday called for more support to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, warning about the increasing number of displaced people due to the armed conflicts in that province.

“I would like to reiterate the appeal of the government of Mozambique to all diplomatic missions and international and regional organisations represented here to help us mobilise more support to cope with the humanitarian emergency ravaging Cabo Delgado,” Verónica Macamo said.

She was speaking during a meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited in Mozambique, held on Wednesday in Maputo.

The minister warned about the increase in the number of displaced people, increasing the need for assistance to the populations, particularly food.

“The displaced populations have abandoned their belongings, fields, crops and livestock to seek safety, which is causing a humanitarian emergency of increasingly complex proportions,” said Macamo.

Witnessing update from 🇲🇿 Foreign Minister on Cabo Delgado and SADC. Underlined importance of regional solidarity and need to galvanise social inclusion, agribusiness, jobs & skills for youth, along side meeting short term security and humanitarian challenges. pic.twitter.com/dEdI8KHWdC

— NneNne Iwuji-Eme (@NneNneUK) June 2, 2021

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 2,800 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and 714,000 displaced people, according to the Mozambican government.

The number of displaced increased with the attack on the village of Palma on 24 March, an incursion that caused dozens of deaths and injuries.

The Mozambican authorities announced they were controlling the town. Still, that attack led oil company Total to abandon indefinitely the site of the enterprise that was scheduled to start production in 2024 and on which many of the expectations for economic growth in the next decade are anchored.

Source: Lusa