Over 99,313 people — 61,492 of them are children — have fled their homes between December 22 and March 3 as a result of the recent uptick in violence in northern Mozambique, Save the Children, an international non-government organization based in London stated on Tuesday.
Save the Children said that the conflict in Cabo Delgado, currently in its seventh year, has had a severe impact on the local population.
“There are repeated reports of beheadings and abductions, including multiple child victims. The conflict has already left 540,000 people displaced, with more than half of them children,” the charity said, as cited by the media.
The increase in attacks came after a relatively peaceful period, with attacks concentrated in some areas in the northern part of the province. Approximately 600,000 people returned to their home districts last year in an effort resume normal life, the organization reported.
Furthermore, the non-profit urgently appealed to protect children, stating that the recent violence is a targeted assault on education. Over 100 schools in six districts of Cabo Delgado have been closed, along with 17 schools in Nampula in Northern Mozambique, impacting nearly 71,000 kids.
Last Friday, the UN also provided its assessment of the crisis: the organization estimated that more than 70,000 people have fled their homes due to the conflict and over 709,000 are internally displaced.
Jihadists have been trying to establish an Islamic State in Cabo Delgado since 2017. Terrorist assaults have primarily targeted civilians.
Since July 2021, Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community have helped the military liberate neighborhoods near natural gas facilities, but new attacks have emerged in the south.
However, this week, Algeria pledged immediate support to Mozambique's counterterrorism forces in the form of personal equipment and would also help train police to fight kidnapping gangs in major cities.
*Daesh, also known as ISIL/ISIS/IS, is a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.