UN refugee chief expresses concern over 780,000 displaced people in Mozambique

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE, Zimbabwe- (AA) - The UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi on Thursday raised concerns over 780,000 displaced people in Mozambique owing to terrorist attacks in the coastal nation in southeast Africa.

Grandi was on visit to Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, where militants said to be affiliated with Daesh, or the ISIS terrorist group have waged attacks on communities since 2017 and where some 1.3 million people were forced to flee their homes to evade killings and beheadings.

Around 600,000 Mozambicans from the troubled province have since returned home, many of them to decimated dwellings.

An upsurge in new attacks since January following a period of relative calm have caused 80,000 new displacements, raising the number of people displaced so far to over 700,000, according to the UN.

Other aid agencies have claimed that the number of Mozambicans forced to flee their homes owing to violence in the north of the country since January is even higher, nearing 100,000.

Grandi has called for “sustained involvement by the international community” to help Mozambique, with the UN’s humanitarian plan in Mozambique faced by a funding deficit.

In a post on X, Grandi said conflict and climate change in Mozambique underpin a complex displacement situation. "Time to pivot to development, also to help prevent more displacement," he added.

The UN needs $400 million to help people in Mozambique this year alone and has received pledges for just 5% of that required money, according to Robert Piper, special adviser on internally displaced people to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.