Over 150,000 directly affected by insurgency, reports Cabo Delgado government

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Over 150,000 directly affected by insurgency, reports Cabo Delgado government

3:47 CAT | 10 Feb 2020

File photo: RM

The terrorist insurgency in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado has affected 39,875 households (or 156.248 people) since the first raids, in October 2017, according to an official report published by the Cabo Delgado provincial government and cited in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.

Attacks by the insurgents have destroyed 76 schools, in which 16,760 pupils were being taught by 285 teachers. The teachers have now been reallocated to other regions.

ALSO READ: Fresh violence in northern Mozambique forces thousands to flee – UNHCR

14,000 peasant households have abandoned their farms, and 1,981 fishermen have had to flee from terrorist attacks. Four health centres have been vandalised at Nkonde (Nangade district), Namaluco (Quissanga), Quiterajo (Macomia) and Maganja (Palma). The districts most affected have been Macomia, Quissanga, Mocimboa da Praia and Palma, but there have also been attacks in Nangade, Muidumbe and Mueda.

One result has been an exodus of thousands of people fleeing to the coast, to the provincial capital, Pemba, and to the southern districts of the province, not yet touched by the insurgency, or across the border into Tanzania. Some villages in the worst hit areas have become “ghost zones”.

Mozambique: Pemba bishop estimates over 500 dead so far in Cabo Delgado attacks

The government report does not attempt to put a figure on the number of people who have been killed, but the Catholic bishop of Pemba, Luiz Fernando Lisboa, estimates that at least 500 people have died.

A spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Andrej Mahecic, puts the number of displaced people at at least 100,000. The UNHCR counts 28 attacks in Cabo Delgado since the start of this year.

ALSO READ: UN says insurgent propaganda combines footage from Mozambique, DRC and Somalia – Carta

The UNHCR has pledged to provide two million US dollars, to support 15,000 people in an initial phase. It will help coordinate protection activities through a partnership with the Mozambican government.

Meanwhile the director of the teacher training college run by the NGO ADPP in Bilibiza, in Quissanga district, Ernesto Parivo, has given an account of the 29 January attack on Bilibiza in which the college, and the nearby Agricultural Institute, run by the Aga Khan Foundation, were severely damaged.

Parivo says he was alerted to an impending attack at about 11.00 by a hunter from a neighbouring village, who said that insurgents were on their way to Bilibiza. After this warning, most of the Bilibiza population fled to take refuge on the opposite bank of a nearby river.

The attack came at about 17.00, said Parivo, when the terrorists “burnt and destroyed all the infrastructures that existed in the area”.

One maintenance worker and three students were in the teacher training college, and Parivo made sure they all went to the river. They took a canoe “from which we only heard shots and saw smoke and it was possible to see that the college was being attacked”.

Parivo said that shooting continued until 08.00 the following morning. He asked a policeman who had also taken refuge on the far bank of the river to accompany him back to the college to assess the damage.

“We found the warehouse and the educational section still in flames, with all the books and desks burnt”, he said.

Parivo then returned to the river, hired a canoe and made his way by boat and on foot to Pemba.

He later learnt that local people, taking advantage of the lack of any protection, had looted the food stores in the college and in the Agricultural Institute.

Since it is impossible to resume classes in Bilibiza, Parivo suggests that the college re-open in Pemba. Space is available in the Alberto Chipande Teacher Training College, or in the area just outside the city where the ruling Frelimo Party held its Congress in 2012.

This is the dismal panorama of the province that will greet President Filipe Nyusi, who is flying to Cabo Delgado on Monday. He intends to chair a meeting in the province of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), and will address political rallies.

Source: AIM