Mozambique: Number of displaced in Cabo Delgado is almost 700,000 – UNHCR

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Mozambique: Number of displaced in Cabo Delgado is almost 700,000 – UNHCR

7:36 CAT | 19 Mar 2021

Photo: Twitter / @RaoufMazou

The number of displaced people due to armed attacks in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, now reach almost 700,000 and the numbers “continue to rise,” announced the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday.

It is the result of “growing insecurity and widespread violence in the north of the country,” reads the final communiqué of the visit to Cabo Delgado by Gillian Triggs; Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, and Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees (Operations.

“I have heard unbelievable human tragedies,” said Gillian Triggs.

“This is a real humanitarian tragedy, which also brings protection needs,” including for children, in a population that has fled “the worst conflict imaginable,” she described.

They have faced “dangerous journeys, some by boat and some by land, to find some sort of safety in the host communities in Cabo Delgado” which “have been incredibly hospitable”.

The two Assistant High Commissioners were in Ancuabe, where families face difficulties in returning to normal life, “due to the lack of dignified conditions”, with “little or no access to food, health or education, as well as lack of adequate and resistant shelter from the heavy rains in the province”, notes the UNHCR.

With needs rapidly increasing, that UNHCR and partners “urgently need more funding to ensure that people fleeing violence can access much-needed relief”.

“As of March 2021, only 39 per cent of UNHCR’s 2020-2021 appeal in Cabo Delgado was funded,” the statement concluded.

The high commissioner’s office has pointed out that a shortfall of $11 million (€9.2 million) remains for the operation in northern Mozambique.

“Host communities have been incredibly hospitable in receiving thousands of displaced families. UNHCR is working with the government + partners to provide help but additional resources are needed to support those displaced” @RaoufMazou in Ancuabe. pic.twitter.com/kQTCce6VNQ

— UNHCR Mozambique (@UNHCRMozambique) March 19, 2021

Armed violence in Cabo Delgado, which is home to Africa’s largest private multinational investment in natural gas exploration, is causing a humanitarian crisis with over 2,000 deaths.

Some of the incursions have been claimed by the ‘jihadist’ group Islamic State between June 2019 and November 2020, but the origin of the attacks remains under debate.

My colleague @GillianTriggs & I are in Mozambique to express solidarity to a refugee-hosting country which is also facing a dramatic internal displacement crisis.

700,000 people have fled their homes in the Cabo Delgado Region. They need assistance & most of all solutions. pic.twitter.com/3i8rGkUvj7

— Raouf Mazou (@RaoufMazou) March 18, 2021

Displaced from home, many are without identity documents. This has serious consequences on their rights and access to life-saving assistance. A UNHCR-supported legal aid project is helping them with legal documentation.https://t.co/lTAAwMO7rI https://t.co/19ZC2tTNzE

— Gillian Triggs (@GillianTriggs) March 18, 2021

Source: Lusa