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“I ran for my life,” Louisa José told Reuters.
Ten days ago, the mother of five children came face to face with the jihadists attacking Palma in northern Mozambique. IS has claimed responsibility for the attack and says the city has been taken.
– I saw them with bazookas. They wore uniforms with red scarves tied around their heads, she says.
José is one of several thousand people who have fled as a result of the March 24 attack.
Since March 25, the UN Food Program has evacuated 380 people, mostly women and children.
Tens of thousands on the run
About 10,000 people fled the violence in the area and have sought refuge in other parts of the Cabo Delgado province. According to the International Organization for Migration (IMO), there are still 23,000 people in the Afungi area.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has rescued the most vulnerable from the conflict zone, but flights were halted on Friday due to a worsening security situation. Photo: Dave LePoidevin / MAF via AP / NTB Photo: Dave Lepoidevin
MSF informs AFP that the aid organization has evacuated its personnel from Afungi “due to deteriorating security conditions.”
A military source in the capital Maputo says French oil and gas giant Total has evacuated all employees after video from a drone showed rebels in the area were “very close” to the gas plant. natural in Afungi.
Stops the evacuation
The northern region of Mozambique has been hit by a growing Islamist uprising since 2017. Last week, many were killed and tens of thousands were forced to flee when jihadists attacked the coastal city of Palma.
The UN Food Program (WFP) has helped the most vulnerable to leave the conflict zone, but flights were halted on Friday.
“Due to the deteriorating security situation, we have so far stopped the evacuation from Afungi to Pemba,” spokeswoman Shelley Thakral told AFP.
She says WFP works closely with authorities to assess when it is safe to resume flights.
Loyalty to IS
About 100 suspected members of an Islamist group known as al-Shabaab and al-Sunna wa Jama’a (ASWJ) launched the attack on Palma on March 24.
The Palma bombing was the latest of more than 830 jihadist attacks in the last three years that have killed more than 2,600 people.
The uprising in the troubled Cabo Delgado region began in 2017 and has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the country similar to that of the 1977-1992 civil war.
(© NTB / TV 2)
