Deslocados vitimas do terrorrismo em Cabo Delgado, chegados ao Distrito de Mueda a procura de refugio. Foto de Ferhat Momade
Maputo, 27 Feb (AIM) – The number of people displaced from the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado to the neighboring province of Nampula, as a result of extreme violence carried out by Islamic terrorists, has risen from 30,000 to 33,000.
These people were forced to abandon their homes in Chiúre district. They crossed the Lúrio River and are being sheltered in Nampula province, especially in Eráti district.
The conflict has left many vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition, especially women and children.
The Mozambican relief agency, the National Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (INGD), in coordination with the Eráti administration, has set up three transitional centres, in the regions of Nacucha, 21 de Abril and Maunona III.
“People are being assisted by the INGD, and by other partners, such as the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)”, said Oliveira Amimo, the Chiure district administrator.
According to the administrator, there is assistance from the government and its cooperation partners, but it is not enough.
“From the initial number they gave, there are new arrivals. So, at the moment, the families need basic support in order to govern themselves”, Amimo said, explaining that the displaced people were taken by surprise in the middle of the agricultural season.
“It may complicate their survival situation. People were producing in their fields and left out of necessity. What we hope is that these people will soon be able to return to their areas of origin, to their villages, to continue rebuilding the district”, the administrator said.
However, Amimo acknowledged that there is no specific plan, “apart from the one we have been implementing, following what we have been doing on an annual basis, following the fulfillment of the government’s Economic and Social Plan, in which every citizen in the province is involved.”
On Monday, the Nampula provincial governor, Manuel Rodrigues, visited the displaced people and called for greater vigilance and denunciation of terrorists who try to infiltrate the population.
Cabo Delgado is rich in natural gas and many other minerals, but has been plagued by terrorist attacks since 2017 perpetrated by jihadist groups causing the death of over 3,000 people, most of them civilians.
(AIM)
Ad/pf (375)
