UN refugee agency pledges strategy to aid victims of terrorism

Maputo, 5 Mar (AIM) – The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has pledged to draw up a strategy to assist the victims of islamist terrorism that has been plaguing the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, since 2017.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi – who was received in an audience on Monday by President Filipe Nyusi – their talks focused on how to help the many thousands of displaced Mozambicans in Cabo Delgado.

“We discussed the best solutions for the tens of thousands displaced by the floods, as well as by insecurity in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. We have had an excellent meeting, in which we agreed on the next steps and how the United Nations can best help the government and local authorities to respond to this situation by providing humanitarian assistance in the short term”, Grandi said.

The assistance, according to Grandi, “also includes documentation, legal support for the displaced people, but more importantly it is how to help the government find solutions for the displaced people, either by helping them return to their homes or transferring them to other places or keeping them where they are”, he added.

For his part, Robert Piper, the UN Secretary General’s special adviser on solutions for internally displaced people, said that Mozambique is a priority country for the UN, as it is a country with many needs, but also opportunities.

“Hundreds of thousands of Mozambicans have returned to their homes in recent months”, he said. “These people have returned to resume their lives, to resume their livelihoods, to return to school and to health centres, and not just in the north”.

According to Piper, the central region of the country has also many displaced people as a result of natural disasters.

“Our priority is to support them and to support the government to ensure that this is successful”, he said.

(AIM)

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