More than 60% of those displaced by the new wave of terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado are children and 129 schools were closed, according to a UN report to which Lusa had access yesterday
As of Wednesday, 33,218 people were displaced in Nampula, in the district of Eráti, north of that province, and 38,463 in Cabo Delgado, mainly in the district of Chiùre, to the south, according to the document from the United Nations Children’s Fund ( Unicef) with a summary of the situation on the ground.
At least 52 children arrived at their destination, following days of walking, separated from their caregivers, he also said. The report adds that 61% of these displaced people are children, totaling 43,725.
Furthermore, the situation on the ground, with attacks on several villages in the south of Cabo Delgado province, has already led to the closure of 125 schools, including 16 in the Memba district, Nampula province, affecting 68,300 students.
“Four schools in Chiùre suffered damage in the recent attacks. A school in Eráti is occupied by military forces”, reads the Unicef report.
In the Eráti district, the majority of internally displaced people were welcomed by family members, as well as in a transit center located in a primary school.
The Unicef report states that 10,900 people, equivalent to 2,500 families, are placed in seven displacement camps in Chiùre, and that “an undetermined number of internally displaced people are hosted” in neighboring communities.
There are still around 18,000 people from Chiùre who have fled to four displacement centers in the district of Metuge, also in Cabo Delgado.
The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group claimed responsibility for 27 attacks on “Christian” villages in the district of Chiùre, Cabo Delgado, Northern Mozambique, in which it claims 70 people died in recent days.
Through the group’s propaganda channels, which documents these attacks with photographs, the destruction of 500 churches, houses and public buildings in that district in the south of the province of Cabo Delgado is also mentioned, according to statements to which Lusa had access.
The Mozambican authorities do not comment on the operational situation, but Lusa has heard in recent days, in the village of Chiùre, reports from displaced people arriving in the town regarding attacks, 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 been plaguing the south of that Mozambican province for two weeks are carried out by “little groups” of “violent extremists”, but that he still believes in reconciliation.
At issue are several attacks in different villages in districts in the south of Cabo Delgado, especially in Chiùre, following in recent years, since 2017, the insurgents’ actions have been concentrated in the center and north of the province.
“There is a small group scaring people in the communities and people just hearing that it is them, that they are the extremists who are coming, creates panic in the villages”, acknowledged to Lusa, in Pemba, capital of the province, the governor Valige Tauabo.
These are “macabre actions that are being carried out by violent extremists and that even lead to terrorism”, he pointed out.
“In the south of the province, the actions that were carried out in the north and center were not common”, stated Tauabo, recognizing that these attacks have caused “panic in the communities”, especially in Chiùre.
The province of Cabo Delgado 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). ), freeing up districts near gas projects.
The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to data from United Nations agencies, and around 4,000 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
