Great need in Mozambique

Mozambique cannot rest

Since October 2017, the northern and central coastal districts of Cabo Delgado have been repeatedly exposed to deadly violence by groups. These terrorize villages with attacks, kidnappings and the plundering of food and property. Strategically important transportation routes and locations are now under rebel control. As a result, the population, already severely affected by cyclones, hunger and poor health care, is suffering. While it is assumed that some of the rebels are of foreign origin, many are young people with good local knowledge who have joined the ranks of the insurgents. These young people simply have no prospects, which unfortunately makes them susceptible to extremism. They have been promised work and a better future from various sides. But the cyclones, drought and the already great poverty meant that these promises were not fulfilled and a great lack of prospects spread.

By December 2020, almost half a million people (around a quarter of the population of Cabo Delgado) had fled from their villages in the north of the province of Cabo Delgado to the inland and southern areas of the province, as well as to the neighboring provinces of Nampula and Niassa. More than half of them are women, almost 15,000 of whom are pregnant and in urgent need of medical care. However, 36 percent of the health facilities in the entire province have been damaged or even destroyed. In addition, girls and women have to live in constant fear of being abducted, raped or forced into marriage or prostitution.

Since the beginning of June 2022, there have been renewed terrorist attacks after signs of calm. The devastating thing: The attacks now also hit the districts of Ancuabe and Chiúre, where many refugees had only just found shelter in resettlement villages. After months of supposed calm, Islamist militias once again spread fear and terror. People were beheaded with machetes, villages burned down and crops destroyed.