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Maputo, Mozambique – The camera shows a crowd, before quickly zooming in on the faces of three women. They all cry.
Pushing microphones in their faces, reporters try to elicit a few comments, but the inconsolable women are barely audible, their incoherent words interspersed with long cries.
They are among thousands who have arrived in Pemba, the capital of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, after fleeing a devastating attack last week on the city of Palma, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
The government has confirmed the deaths of dozens of people, including Mozambican and foreign nationals. Some have been beheaded. Vehicles were also set on fire, government buildings destroyed and foodstuffs looted. No exact figures, including information on the number of government security forces or fighters killed, have been released.
Since firing the first shots in October 2017 in the town of Mocimboa da Praia, the group known locally as al-Shabab has killed, destroyed and ransacked a number of towns and villages in northern Cabo Delgado.
It would appear that Mocimboa da Praia has great symbolic value for fighters linked to ISIS: they returned in August 2020 and wrested control of the city from government forces, keeping it until today.
As fighters rampaged through Palma, those who had not been killed fled their homes, quickly filling the ranks of the region’s IDPs who left ghost towns behind. The three-year conflict has forced some 700,000 people from their homes, with more than 2,500 killed.
The majority of those who fled Palma – home to around 110,000 people, including 40,000 displaced people who had settled there after fleeing attacks elsewhere – made their way south to Pemba in overcrowded ships. , cars and on foot. A group arrived on board a ship Thursday with about 1,200 people on board, including 300 children and 400 women.
More than 3,300 people have fled to the districts of Nangade, Mueda, Montepuez and Pemba, according to the World Food Program (WFP), while thousands are believed to be still on the way.
Palma is home to around 50,000 inhabitants, living a few kilometers from the gates of the Afungi peninsula, the largest liquefied natural gas construction site in Africa, where French energy giant Total has embarked on a construction project. $ 20 billion.
There are still many questions regarding the real reason for the violence, although competing theories are being floated.
Poverty and lack of jobs are believed to have played a significant role in the face of growing social grievances in a gas-rich region which is also known for its timber and rubies. Drug trafficking and conflicts between local elites, as well as the growing radicalization of young people, were also cited.
As the number of internally displaced people rises, aid workers warn the situation is dire and begins to affect neighboring Cabo Delgado provinces. Some of the population fled west to neighboring Niassa province, while others took the road south to Nampula.
“This is a very serious situation,” said Lola Castro, WFP regional director in Southern Africa. “We’re talking about already desperate people who haven’t been able to plan for three consecutive years, others who have recently been displaced, who don’t even have food, water, shelter or anything. A huge humanitarian tragedy is unfolding before us. “
The fleeing population also has an additional burden; not all families manage to escape together, leaving many of those who did do the worst for their loved ones.
But for now, the priority is to feed, clothe and shelter the fleeing population. By the time they reach shelters, they may have traveled for days without food or water. Those arriving by road hide in the bush, staying alive by drinking the river water and foraging for food, while those on the boats can go days without food or water.
And as they reach shelters, they are likely to increase the humanitarian bill. “We don’t have enough resources to support the necessary scale-up,” Castro said. WFP alone needs $ 10.5 million per month to provide assistance to the internally displaced and has requested funds to cover their basic needs.
In Mozambique, citizens of the capital, Maputo, have launched a campaign to raise funds to help their compatriots.
Failure to secure funding will pose a major challenge to humanitarian operations. It is estimated that around 950,000 people in Cabo Delgado and the neighboring provinces of Nampula and Niassa are food insecure.
Meanwhile, foreign bodies and countries have offered to help the Mozambican government in its fight against the armed group.
So far, the government has mainly focused on military aid. The United States has sent special operations forces to train Mozambican troops, while the former colonial power, Portugal, will deploy 60 military experts, also for training purposes.
Yet what is most needed right now is for the government to come up with a coherent plan to deal with the crisis, taking into account humanitarian aid, local development, job creation. and other factors.
Otherwise, images like those of crying women will tragically only increase in frequency.
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