The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that around 15,000 people have fled different communities in the Ancuabe district due to new incursions by terrorists in Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique.
‘Most of the people fled as a result of the attacks on 31 March, which took place in the communities and villages of Nkole, Nonia, Muela, Ngura and Miegane,’ said the organisation in a report released on Wednesday (23).
According to the organisation, the attacks involved looting, house fires, kidnappings and targeted killings. ‘The attackers entered at night, demanded money, shot at civilians and set fire to houses. The victims, unable to pay, were kidnapped. In several reports, people from the community spoke of ransoms of up to 10,000 meticals.’
As well as destroying infrastructure, the rebel groups kidnapped young people from the communities. The UNHCR emphasised that psychosocial assistance, the recovery of personal documents, the prevention of gender-based violence and support for people with disabilities are the ‘urgent needs’ among those affected.
‘These incidents have caused significant trauma among the population. The new wave of rebel incursions into Ancuabe has been generating panic in the district, located around 150 kilometres from the city of Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province,’ he recalled.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado, a gas-rich province, has been facing an armed rebellion, which has caused thousands of deaths and a humanitarian crisis, with more than a million people displaced.
In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremist groups in the province, representing an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to data recently released by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), an academic institution of the US Department of Defense that specialises in analysing conflicts in Africa.
The most recent major attack took place on 10 and 11 May 2024, when around a hundred insurgents invaded and looted the district headquarters of Macomia, resulting in several deaths and intense fighting with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces, supported by troops from Rwanda, who are assisting the country in fighting the rebels.
