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The escalation of the conflict and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado have left communities completely dependent on humanitarian assistance. According to the Government, attacks by non-state groups have forced more than 565,000 people to flee their homes and villages, abandoning their crops and livelihoods.
Last December, the United Nations Regional Directors for Eastern and Southern Africa visited Mozambique to assess the plight and needs of displaced populations, as well as host communities in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, and met with government officials in Maputo.
They expressed their deep concern about the humanitarian situation unfolding in Cabo Delgado, where violence has exposed people to human rights violations and left people with very limited access to food and livelihoods. Increasing insecurity and poor infrastructure have meant that reaching people in need has become more difficult and, along with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis has become even more complex.
“We urgently need to increase our presence in Cabo Delgado to help those in need, especially women and children,” said Lola Castro, WFP Regional Director for South Africa.
The joint mission with the Regional Directors of FAO, IFAD, IOM, UNFPA, UNHCR and WFP, as well as the Manager of the UNDP Resilience Center and members of the UN Country Team, allowed the Participants witness first-hand the impact of the ongoing violence in Cabo Delgado and to show support for the affected communities and the people of Mozambique.
They heard extremely moving accounts of displaced men, women and children in the city of Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, and in the districts of Ancuabe and Chiúre, whose lives have been disrupted by conflict and insecurity. They also met with communities hosting the displaced, visited planned resettlement areas, and held discussions with the provincial governor and the secretary of state, as well as religious leaders and representatives of civic organizations.
The crisis in the north of the country is a complex security, human rights, humanitarian and development emergency, underscoring the imperative to continue to provide life-saving assistance while collectively supporting long-term, government-led resilience building.
While acknowledging that much has been done to help the victims of the crisis, the Regional Directors highlighted that with the daily increase in displacement, the lack of adequate food, water, sanitation, shelter, health, protection and education was exacerbating a A situation that was already dire: a situation further aggravated by the impending rainy season in a country particularly prone to climatic extremes, as cyclones Idai and Kenneth devastatingly illustrated in 2019.
More recently, Tropical Storm Chalane, which affected the same populations last December as Cyclone Idai did less than two years ago, was a stark reminder of the climate threat Mozambicans face and the urgency to massively increase investments in recovery and resilience.
With COVID-19 keeping most schools closed, the importance of a strong investment in education to build Mozambique’s human and social capital is a growing concern.
There is an urgent need to scale up protection, health, food and nutrition programs for vulnerable children and women, vaccination and immunization interventions and psychosocial counseling, and to work to enable displaced farming and fishing families to restore livelihoods sustainable.
Regional directors called for support for the proper resettlement of uprooted families, which depletes the already limited resources of impoverished host communities and slows down government efforts to register and assist the displaced effectively.
They noted that urgent investments in development and strengthening resilience are required not only to promote human rights and social justice, but also to limit the impact of current crises and help prevent future ones.
To curb violent extremism, they called for development initiatives to have a transnational focus and prioritize economic empowerment and the social and political inclusion of women and youth.
They urged the Government of Mozambique and the international community to intensify efforts to end all forms of violence in the country, including gender-based violence and child marriage, and to invest more in women and girls as agents of progress and change.
The Regional Directors expressed their gratitude to the government for its role in helping to meet the humanitarian needs of the people in the north of the country and reaffirmed the commitment of the United Nations to uphold human rights and promote peace and sustainable development for all. Mozambicans.
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