Displaced people from the province of Cabo Delgado walk through the streets of Namapa, Erati district of Nampula, Mozambique on February 27, 2024. AFP
In a shocking turn of events, more than 70 children in East Africa’s Mozambique have gone missing after the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) launched a string of attacks on the Cabo Delgado province.
Authorities fear that IS terrorists might have kidnapped the kids after they were separated from their parents as thousands of residents were forced to flee to neighboring provinces.
Mozambique has been reeling under terrorist attacks since 2017 with regional troops helping the government to tackle the insurgency problem.
Forces from Rwanda and countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), deployed to Mozambique in July 2021 after years of jihadist attacks.
Thousands flee home
A report by Save the Children says that The number of people who fled their homes in northern Mozambique has peaked at over 112,000, including 60,000 children, in the last two months.
“More than 61,000 children have fled a new wave of violence” in the Cabo Delgado province in the last two months, “the highest number uprooted in such a short period”, the children’s charity said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the UN migration agency IOM the total number of displaced people at 112,894 from December 22 to March 3.
The families have either fled their homes by bus, canoe, or even on foot.
A Doctor’s Without Borders (MSF) psychologist, Esperanca Chinhanja, based in one of the districts of Cabo Delgado cautioned about the mental impact of the recent attacks.
“Some people experience anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, isolation and recurrent thoughts. Some share they lost the meaning of life and mention suicide thoughts,” Chinhanja said.
With inputs from AFP
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
Source link : https://www.firstpost.com/world/mozambique-islamic-state-africa13745929-13745929.html/amp
Author :
Publish date : 2024-03-06 08:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.