The situation in Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique, is far from stabilizing and has even worsened in some districts, despite the improvement recorded with gas projects, MSF leaders in the country said. “We are far from stable in Cabo Delgado,” said Helena Cardellach, MSF emergency coordinator in the region. She classifies the situation as “a serious crisis, with great suffering and displaced people”, already more than a million.
“It’s hard to predict what will happen, but what is clear is that if this conflict ended tomorrow, the needs would be there for a long time, not least because they existed before,” he said during an online MSF event to mark two years after the attack on Palma, the most publicized of the uprising that has lasted since 2017 in Cabo Delgado. The attack by Islamic militants paralyzed the gas projects of the consortium led by TotalEnergies, work that will resume in July, according to the Italian company Saipem.
“In some parts of the province, such as Palma, the situation is more stable,” but “in others it is getting worse,” said Federica Nogarotto, MSF representative in Mozambique. Palma is the district where the gas projects are located and started to be garrisoned by troops from Rwanda. Looking at the province as a whole, it cannot be said that “the number of people in need is less than two years ago”. Nogarotto says there are more humanitarian needs, in a scenario where “fear continues to stir people”.
In the rest of the province, families are still fleeing from place to place because of attacks. “They’re always trying to start over,” Cardellach stressed. Many thousands are returning to some districts, such as Mocímboa da Praia, but in these half-devastated areas, which were recaptured from the insurgents, there is a lack of basic health care and other services. Outside of Pemba (provincial capital) and Palma, the presence of health services and humanitarian aid has been reduced and limited to Doctors Without Borders in many parts of the interior.
Beyond these problems, “the mental health situation is critical,” said the coordinator in Cabo Delgado, citing as an example the case of a child, now six years old, forced to witness his father’s beheading, after he later got the head. The child is being monitored by MSF. “Now he’s starting to smile again after several sessions” when he previously declined interacting with other people, Philip Aruna said.
water comes first
The Mozambican government has told the United Nations it needs €15.6 million to repair water supply infrastructure destroyed by the terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado. “Since water is one of the basic needs of the population to return and restore their lives, the restoration of the water supply infrastructure is the most important part of the project,” said Mozambique’s Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mosque .
According to the official, the Mozambican experience has proven that ensuring the water supply to communities affected by armed conflict is a “crucial element in promoting peace and stability”. The intervention took place at a ministerial meeting organized by Mozambique and Switzerland during the UN water conference in New York.
Source: DN
