Mozambique: ‘Premature’ to talk of stabilisation in Cabo Delgado – MSF

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Mozambique: ‘Premature’ to talk of stabilisation in Cabo Delgado – MSF

10:51 CAT | 14 Dec 2023

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The deputy representative in Mozambique of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Francesca Zuccaro, said on Wednesday that it was “premature” to talk about stabilisation and a return to normality in the province of Cabo Delgado, which has been the target of terrorist attacks and where “urgent humanitarian needs” persist.

“The security situation remains volatile in some districts of Cabo Delgado, and there have been multiple attacks since September that have led to the forced displacement of thousands of people in the districts of Macomia, Mocímboa da Praia and Muidumbe. Some areas of these districts have still not received any support in recent years, as access remains a challenge due to insecurity,” said Francesca Zuccaro in a statement.

For this reason, “it is still premature to talk about stabilisation and a return to normality in Cabo Delgado”, a province in northern Mozambique where, she says, “more than 600,000 people remain displaced, while 540,000 have returned to their areas of origin”.

“The majority have witnessed or lived through situations of extreme violence and have been forced to move several times over the last few years. This situation has had a significant impact on the mental health of the majority of families in Cabo Delgado, with many still living in fear,” she emphasised.

Although “some previously displaced families have returned to their areas of origin”, the MSF official said that this “doesn’t mean that they are and feel safe” and that even among those who have returned to their areas of origin, “many are being forced to flee again”.

Specifically, she pointed out that around 500 families, totalling around 1,500 people, who had returned to their homes in the village of Novo Cabo in Macomia in June, “were displaced again in November due to attacks”, citing data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

“These families returned to the same IDP settlement where they had lived for more than two years and from where they had left in June to return to their homes. MSF supported these families with basic necessities, health and mental health care, and water and sanitation activities,” Francesca Zuccaro added.

She also recognised that access to health care remains “a challenge in the areas of displacement and in the areas of return”, given that “most of the infrastructure has been destroyed”, giving the example of Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia, where of the 14 health centres that existed before the conflict, only five are functioning.

“It is crucial to maintain and increase humanitarian assistance to meet the urgent needs of thousands of families who continue to be affected by the conflict in northern Mozambique. At the same time, it is essential to carry out long-term development actions and rehabilitate health infrastructures destroyed during this conflict,” MSF’s deputy representative concluded.

The province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed insurgency for six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State, which has led to a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts next to gas projects.

The conflict has displaced a million people, according to data from UN agencies, and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

In November, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi called for “decisions” on the capacity of the Armed Forces in Cabo Delgado to respond, particularly with reservists, in view of the planned withdrawal of foreign forces supporting the terrorist groups in the field in July 2024.

“Concrete decisions on the Armed Forces’ capacity to respond to the fight against terrorism in Cabo Delgado in the period after the withdrawal of friendly forces from SAMIM [the SADC mission in Mozambique] and Rwanda,” Nyusi asked at the opening of the 24th Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Defence.

Source: Lusa