Dozens of attacks by armed militias in Mozambique forced thousands of civilians to flee villages in recent months, prompting the UN Relief Agency (UNHCR) to scale-up humanitarian relief efforts, according to a press release on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2020) Dozens of attacks by armed militias in Mozambique forced thousands of civilians to flee villages in recent months, prompting the UN Relief Agency (UNHCR) to scale-up humanitarian relief efforts, according to a press release on Friday.
"Armed groups have been randomly targeting local villages and terrorizing the local population. Those fleeing speak of killings, maiming, torture, burnt homes, destroyed crops and shops. We have reports of beheadings, kidnappings and disappearances of women and children," UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said in the release.
As a result, UNHCR is boosting its response in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, where recent escalation of violence forced thousands to flee. At least 100,000 people are now displaced throughout the province, the release said.
Twenty-eight attacks were carried out in the province since the beginning of the year, spreading to nine out of the 16 districts in Cabo Delgado - one of the least developed parts of Mozambique, the release added.
UNHCR will help coordinate protection activities in partnership with the government of Mozambique, while deploying additional aid and staff to meet the need, initially for 15,000 displaced victims and host communities in the coming weeks, according to the release.
