The report indicates that 1.7 million people in Mozambique need humanitarian support of all kinds, including 1.24 million victims of the armed conflict in the north, especially Cabo Delgado.
More than 1.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in northern Mozambique due to insecurity and violence caused by terrorist attacks, according to United Nations data released on Saturday.
A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with data up to May, identifies the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa as the most affected by the impacts of the “armed conflict” and insecurity in the region”, which has caused the population to flee after repeated attacks.
The report notes 1.7 million people in Mozambique in need of humanitarian support of all kinds, including 1.24 million victims of the armed conflict in the north, especially Cabo Delgadoand 429,623 nationwide, in this case to mitigate the risks and impacts of natural disasters.
OCHA previously stated that it supported more than two million people in 2023 in need of humanitarian assistance in northern Mozambique due to the armed conflict.
By the end of May, the document adds, 937,965 people had received humanitarian aid, 94% of whom were people displaced by terrorist attacks.
The OCHA report notes that 76 non-governmental organisations are working on the ground in this humanitarian support, including seven UN agencies.
He added that by the end of May, 1.2 million people were in need of shelter in Mozambique, 562,000 were in need of nutritional support and 950,000 were in need of access to health care.
The humanitarian response plan for this year in Mozambique had received $73.7 million (67.6 million euros) as of May 31, of the $413 million (379.2 million euros) needed, according to OCHA.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.
The latest major attack took place on 10 and 11 May in the district headquarters of Macomia, with around 100 insurgents looting the town, causing several deaths and intense clashes with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces.
The population of other districts of the province has reported the movement of these groups of insurgents, who cause panic as they pass through the forests, but without any record of clashes, which occurs at times when farmers try to carry out harvesting work in the fields.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said on June 16 that the actions of the various defence forces had made it possible to eliminate “virtually all” the bases of the terrorist groups operating in Cabo Delgado, which are now limited to “roaming around in the bush.”
“The result of this combination of forces is astonishing. They managed to disable the terrorists in all the towns and villages that had been occupied, destroyed virtually all the enemy’s fixed bases, turning them into nomads, and put out of action many violent extremists, including some of their top leaders,” Nyusi said in Mueda, Cabo Delgado province.
The Head of State acknowledged the efforts of the Mozambican Defence Forces, together with the Rwandan military, the mission of the southern African countries – which withdrew completely on 4 July – and the Local Force, made up of former combatants of the national liberation struggle, in the fight against these groups over the past six years.
“They are in the mountains, but they no longer stay in one place because they are afraid of being found,” added the President, regarding the action of these insurgent groups in some districts of Cabo Delgado, renewing the call to the population to “continue to reinforce surveillance.”
Source: Observadora
