Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD) on Wednesday called on those displaced by the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado to report the possible presence of insurgents in the accommodation centres.
“We have to continue to be vigilant, to know who is on our side, because, perhaps, when we leave Chiúre for here, we may be leaving with the insurgents, with those bandits,” said the president of the INGD, Luísa Meque, at a meeting in the district of Eráti, Nampula province, with families forced to flee the district of Chiúre, Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country, following terrorist attacks in recent weeks.
“We have to step up vigilance, [to know] who is on our side, who is receiving our support,” emphasised Meque.
The INGD president admitted that the food assistance being provided to the victims of armed violence in Cabo Delgado is insufficient and should be made available gradually.
“We know that not everyone will be able to have the support we are providing at the same time, because there are so many of us,” said Luísa Meque.
In the face of reports that residents of the Erati district have also been posing as displaced persons in order to receive assistance, the authorities will be careful to ensure that only the victims of the violence receive humanitarian aid, said Meque.
“The only people who will receive support or assistance are those who are not from here, those who left everything in their homes to come here,” she emphasised.
On Thursday, the Mozambican government said that 67,321 people had fled the armed attacks of recent weeks in Cabo Delgado province, adding that some of the public are already returning to their points of origin.
“At this point, we’re talking about 67,321 displaced people, which corresponds to 14,217 families,” said Filimão Suaze, spokesman for the Cabinet, at a press conference at the end of the body’s weekly session.
The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for 27 attacks on “Christian” villages in the Chiùre district of Cabo Delgado, in which it says 70 people have died in recent days.
Through the group’s propaganda channels, which document these attacks with photographs, the destruction of 500 churches, houses and public buildings is also mentioned.
The Mozambican authorities are not commenting on the operational situation, but Lusa has heard reports in recent days from displaced people arriving in the village of Chiùre about attacks, the destruction of hospitals, schools and homes, as well as deaths, caused in different villages in the district by the insurgents.
The governor of Cabo Delgado, Valige Tauabo, told Lusa on Monday that the “macabre” acts that have plagued the south of the Mozambican province for a fortnight were carried out by “small groups” of “violent extremists”.
Cabo Delgado province has been facing an armed insurgency for more than six years, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State, which has led to a military response since July 2021, with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community ( SADC), liberating districts near gas projects.
The conflict has already displaced a million people, according to data from UN agencies, and caused around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
Lusa
