WFP Mozambique rules out aid as motive for recent Cabo Delgado attacks: “Nothing was stolen”

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

WFP Mozambique rules out aid as motive for recent Cabo Delgado attacks: “Nothing was stolen”

2:58 CAT | 07 May 2019

Distribution of food aid in Chai, Cabo Delgado. Photo courtesy: WFP Mozambique

The World Food Program (WFP) says that humanitarian aid was not the motivation behind last weekend’s armed attack on a village in northern Mozambique receiving food aid after the passage of Cyclone Kenneth.

“There is no evidence that the attackers were motivated by the presence of food assistance in the village of Nacate,” according to UN officials who visited the area after the attacks, an official source of the UN’s agency [WFP] told Lusa.

“Nothing was stolen during the attack,” the source added.

Despite logistical challenges, @WFP is ramping up support to communities in northern #Mozambique hit by #CycloneKenneth. Yesterday more than 10,000 people in Chai received 30-day ration including rice ?, beans ?and cooking oil. pic.twitter.com/c2vQ4MM5Ns

— WFP Mozambique (@wfp_mozambique) May 6, 2019

Since October 2017, attacks by unidentified armed groups allegedly originating in mosques have caused at least 150 deaths in Cabo Delgado.

Raids on remote villages have involved “the theft of goats or other goods, but never food aid”. Moreover, the WFP “has been supporting those displaced by violence in Cabo Delgado for almost a year”, the source said.

A new WFP food assistance distribution mission in Cabo Delgado is underway following Cyclone Kenneth, which struck the region on 25-26 April this year.

“On Sunday, we reached over 10,000 people with enough food for 30 days in Chai, an area north of Nacate,” the WFP source said.

ALSO READ: No suspension of assistance because of attacks – AIM report

The UN agency has provided food assistance to nearly 50,000 people in Cabo Delgado since the cyclone struck the province.

A network of electoral observers affiliated with the Mozambican non-governmental organisation the Centre for Public Integrity reported that four villages have been attacked since Friday, with 13 residents losing their lives as a result.

ALSO READ: Militant attacks in Mozambique kill seven, threaten voter registration

Mozambique: Three murdered, 100 houses burned in new attack

U.N. strengthens measures concerning sex-for-food aid – Mozambique

Source: Lusa