Immediate Action Needed to Address Humanitarian Crisis in Mozambique

Please see below statement from Refugees International Senior Fellow Sarah Miller:

“Refugees International is concerned about violence and ongoing displacement in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. On 24 March, the Palma district was attacked by local, non-state armed groups. More than 5,000 people, mostly women and children, have been displaced from Palma in the week since. Over the last year, the number of people displaced internally has skyrocketed from 70,000 to 700,000. 

Aid groups report children found alone and disoriented after spending days alone in the bush without food or water, many of whom have witnessed the killing of family members. Reports of children as young as 11 being beheaded have also emerged, painting a picture of terror and horror for those fleeing. Mozambique’s humanitarian crisis is further exacerbated by a range of climate-related disasters, including Cyclone Eloise, which hit in January 2021.

Refugees International calls on the international community to mobilize a swift response to this humanitarian crisis and for an end to the violence. Humanitarian actors are already stretched thin: the current humanitarian appeal for the Cabo Delgado emergency is only 1 percent funded. Donors must step up immediately to provide much-needed support.”

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Refugees International Director of Communications Sarah Sheffer at ssheffer@refugeesinternational.org or +1 202 540 7029.

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Photo: Women carry bags of charcoal in the Tara Tara district of Matuge, northern Mozambique, on February 24, 2021. The place functions as a center for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled their communities due to attacks by armed insurgents in the northern part of the Cabo Delgado province. (Photo by ALFREDO ZUNIGA/AFP via Getty Images)