Over 1.4 million people internally displaced by terrorism

Maputo, 22 Mar (AIM) – The extreme violence carried out by Islamist terrorists in some districts of the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, since 2017, has caused over one 1.4 million people to become internally displaced.

According to the permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry, Justino Tonela, who was speaking in Maputo on Thursday at an International Conference on Post-conflict Reintegration in Mozambique, terrorism has displaced a total of 1,460,055 people.

Tonela did not mention the number of deaths in jihadist raids. However, government sources and other organizations on the ground say that over 4,000 citizens have already been murdered by terrorists.

“The problem of the humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, affected by terrorism and violent extremism, despite the progress made, remains challenging, given the latest developments in the theatre of terrorist actions that interfere with the human rights of the population”, he said.

Tonela believes that, in recent times, the humanitarian situation has been stable, which has allowed a considerable number of people to voluntarily return to their areas of origin.

Recently, the authorities announced that the district of Quissanga and the island of Quirimba, in the neighboring district of Ibo, as well as Chiúre district, are now free of terrorists, since they were expelled from these regions by the Mozambican defense and security forces (FDS).

According to Tonela, several justice administration infrastructures, namely courts, attorney’s offices and registry offices were destroyed by the terrorists, but now there are signs of recovery because some sectors have resumed work.

“Effective and inclusive access to justice implies the resumption of state public services as soon as possible, in order to guarantee the full presence of state institutions for the full exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms”, he added.

He also said that the fight against terrorism requires a cross-cutting response to identify the deepest causes of radicalization.

“In fact, the fight against this phenomenon and its root causes is contributing to the mobilization of internal and global efforts, including international partners”, he claimed.

“Mozambique welcomes the progress made in the fight against this phenomenon by the Defense and Security Forces (FDS), the SADC Military Mission to Mozambique (SAMIM) and the Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF)”, he added.

After several months of relative normality in the districts affected by armed violence in Cabo Delgado, the province has been experiencing new movements and attacks by jihadist groups for the past few weeks which have limited circulation and caused many villagers to flee their homes for safer areas.

(AIM)

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