A humanitarian worker from the French NGO Solidarités International died in an ambush by an armed group in northern Mozambique, overwhelmed by jihadist violence for more than five years, the organization learned on Tuesday.
International Solidarités “is in a state of shock after the announcement of the death of one of its companions, the victim of an attack by an armed group” on Sunday on a road in the Muidumbe district towards Palma, in the province of Cabo Delgado, writes the NGO in a press release.
Tanzania’s poor and predominantly Muslim northern border province is plagued by jihadist violence that has killed more than 4,400 people, including nearly 2,000 civilians since October 2017, according to the NGO Acled, which collects data in conflict zones. The violence also caused the flight of a million people, according to the UN.
“A murder that revolts us”
The aid worker was on his way after the weekend break to Palma from the provincial capital of Pemba, when his car was attacked, Solidarités International says.
In March 2021, a carefully planned murderous raid devastated the port city of Palma, population 75,000. The natural gas megaproject of the French group TotalEnergies, a few kilometers away, was stopped dead.
Solidarités International, regularly present in Mozambique and since last year, was preparing distributions that included food in the region.
“The murder of our colleague and the civilians traveling with him shocks and stirs us,” said the director of the NGO, Kevin Goldberg, quoted in the press release.
Source: BFM TV
