Friday, April 2, 2021

Mozambique: The Humanitarian Nightmare Continues

In the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, the humanitarian horror unleashed by ISIS-affiliated terrorists continues. The below article from today's Portuguese daily, Publico, is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.publico.pt/2021/04/02/mundo/noticia/9-mil-pessoas-fugiram-palma-causa-ataques-1957025

More than 9,000 people have fled from Palma due to attacks

Almost half of the dislocated who fled from the Mozambican locality in the last week are children. UN official describes "absolute horror".


Caption below photo: Arrival at Pemba of hundreds of dislocated from Palma 

Luis Fonseca-Lusa (News agancy)

April 2, 2021, 19:19

More than 9,000 people have fled from the town of Palma, in the northern part of Mozambique, since the attack by jihadist groups on March 24, revealed the cabinet of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

"At least 9,158 people-45% of whom are children-arrived in the districts of Nangade, Mueda, Montepuez, and Pemba, according to the latest update of World Organization for Migration," states OCHA, in a statement released this Friday.

The terrorist attacks upon the populations in the north of Mozambique had already, prior to the attack at Palma, forced almost 670,000 people to flee, including among them 160,000 women and adolescents, 19,000 of whom are pregnant.

Of the people who fled from Palma, 67% managed to stay with families of reception who received the displaced people in their homes.

OCHA stresses that "the situation remains volatile and thousands of people are on the move searching for safety and assistance," after the terrorist movement, Daesh (ISIS) last Monday claimed control over Palma, next to the border with Tanzania.

In Pemba, capital of the province of Cabo Delgado, a reception center was set up in the port and a triage center in the sports pavilion. Humanitarian workers are distributing food to the displaced people, setting up sanitary installations, and referring people who need more urgent medical care.

On Tuesday, the spokesperson for OCHA, Jens Laerke, told the (news) agency, Lusa, that the situation in Palma is, "an absolute horror inflicted against civilians by an armed, non-state group". "They did horrible things and continue to do them," said the official, stressing that the attacks will continue to make thousands of people flee.

OCHA says that there are thousands of people still walking through the bush in order to reach safe places, and says that there is still an unknown number of displaced people at Quitunda, 15 kilometers south of Palma.


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