Mozambique: UN Emergency Response Fund releases further $6.5M in aid

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: UN Emergency Response Fund releases further $6.5M in aid

12:35 CAT | 06 Sep 2023

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

The United Nations Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has released another $6.5 million (€6 million) for humanitarian aid to Mozambique, the agency announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, CERF said that this support is included in the disbursement of $125 million for humanitarian aid, particularly for refugees, in 14 countries in Africa (including Mozambique), Asia, the Middle East and South America.

According to data consulted by Lusa, CERF has two other funds under implementation in Mozambique, for the programmes to recover from the cyclones that affected the country in the first quarter, of $9.9 million, allocated on 5 April, and $4.9 million, allocated on 15 December 2022, to support displaced people.

With the disbursement of these $125 million to the 14 countries, CERF brings total emergency fund support through its Underfunded Emergencies window to more than $270 million this year, which it notes is “the largest annual amount ever allocated, to the highest number of countries” and according to the institution reflecting a “skyrocketing humanitarian needs and the fact that regular donor funding is not keeping pace”.

UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Martin Griffiths, who announced the disbursement, admitted that there is the “cruel reality” that “in many humanitarian operations” support agencies are “scraping along with very little funding right at a time when people’s needs compel them to scale up”.

“Thanks to the generosity of a vast range of donors, we can count on CERF to fill some of the gaps,” he said. ” Lives are saved as a result. But we need individual donors to step up as well – this is a fund by all and for all.”

Currently some 2 million people in Mozambique are in critical need of support and 900,000 remain displaced due to violence caused by terrorist groups and the effects of cyclones, according to the UNHCR, which ranks the country as one of the worst affected by such disasters in the world.

“Mozambique hosts approximately 30,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, while nearly 900,000 people remain displaced internally due to violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups and the devastating impact of the climate crisis – with Mozambique being one of the most adversely affected countries in the world,” reads the operational report for the country from the end of July, launched on 25 August by the UNHCR.

The document – in which the UNHCR also estimates funding needs for assistance operations in the country in 2023 at $47.5 million (€43.9 million) – adds that. the double landfall of Tropical Cyclone Freddy in February and March 2023, a year following the devastating Tropical Cyclone Gombe, affected over one million people, destroyed infrastructure, and displaced some 184,000 people.

According to the report, two million people in Mozambique are “in critical need of assistance and protection” and 834,304 are “internally displaced” in the north of the country “due to the ongoing conflict” – namely attacks by armed groups mainly in Cabo Delgado over the last six years – of which 35% live in resettlement sites and 65% in host communities.

In addition, 79% of the internally displaced people (IDPs) are women and children, and there are also 420,200 returnees, “many in IDP-like situations with poor living conditions and a lack of access to basic services.”

The UNHCR report adds that 41,668 are “climate related IDPs following the impacts of extreme weather events.”

“UNHCR and partners work closely with a range of stakeholders, including the Government, to provide lifesaving protection services and assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs, IDP returnees, as well as host communities, while harnessing opportunities to invest in and build resilience among communities and facilitate sustainable solutions to displacement.,” the report adds. ” In the past months, approximately 420,000 people have returned to their areas of origin, many of which lack services and have poor conditions.”

The entity also stressed that “all refugee and IDP return movements should occur in an informed, safe, voluntary, and dignified manner”.

🚨@UNCERF allocates US$125 million to 14 underfunded emergencies🚨

🔷Humanitarian needs are skyrocketing
🔷This is the largest amount ever allocated
🔷To the highest number of recipient countries

Learn more➡️ https://t.co/g38OzTsmMt pic.twitter.com/x6L4cydceA

— CERF – The UN’s emergency fund (@UNCERF) September 5, 2023