Mozambique: ‘Not enough being done to stop conflict in Cabo Delgado which could engulf entire region’ – HRW

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Mozambique: ‘Not enough being done to stop conflict in Cabo Delgado which could engulf entire region’ – HRW

11:32 CAT | 14 Jan 2021

File photo: DW

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) director for southern Africa said on Wednesday that the conflict in Cabo Delgado has the potential to “swallow” the whole region, considering that not “enough is being done” to stop it.

“The instability in Cabo Delgado is a major concern, not only for the region, but because there is a risk that the crisis will spread to other countries and eventually swallow up the whole southern African region,” Dewa Mavhinga said.

The HRW director for southern Africa was responding to a question from the Lusa agency during the presentation of the annual edition of the report on human rights in the world, in a session that took place ‘online’.

“The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) are not doing enough to ensure that there is sufficient support to end the insurgency and defend the rights of the people,” he added.

Dewa Mavhinga said the organisation is monitoring and investigating allegations of serious abuses by the Mozambican armed forces and security forces in the region.

“These are situations that we are monitoring now and also for the future. It will certainly be a key area of interest for HRW in 2021 given the prospects of a humanitarian and human rights crisis in the region,” he said.

According to the organisation’s annual report on the human rights situation in the world, released today from the United States, Mozambique experienced a deterioration in human rights in 2020, mainly as a result of the ongoing conflict in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

“The humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado province has worsened due to insecurity and violence,” the document said, which analysed the human rights situation in almost 100 countries and territories.

The report notes that the Islamist armed group Al-Sunna wa Jama’a continued its attacks on several villages, “killing civilians, abducting women and children and burning and destroying property”.

HRW also points to “serious abuses” by the security forces, including “arbitrary arrests, abductions, torture, excessive force against unarmed civilians, intimidation, and extrajudicial killings”.

In the document, the organization points out the lack of attention of regional and international actors to the conflict in that Mozambican province, where the largest multinational investment in gas exploration is taking place, and which is causing a humanitarian crisis with more than 2,000 deaths and 560,000 displaced persons.

Source: Lusa