Six weeks after the attack by jihadist armed groups on Palma, in the far north of Mozambique, thousands of exhausted refugees continue to flee on foot or by boat, while the security situation remains fragile. Constant incidents here and there disrupt an uncertain peace, tell witnesses and NGOs present in the poor province of Cabo Delgado, bordering Tanzania.
After the surprise attack and several days of fighting that followed at the end of March, killing dozens of people, the government announced that the army had taken over and restored calm. Not so clear, say many actors in the field.
Among the thousands of inhabitants who left in haste, many have found refuge with relatives or in refugee camps, others continue to wander. In Pemba, capital of the province, boats are still pouring in.
“Now that I have left Palma, I am breathing”, confides to AFP Viaze Juma, 34, mother of four children, arrived Friday April 30 from the Afungi peninsula, where thousands of displaced people gathered after the attack on Palma, near the gas site managed by Total where all activity has now been suspended.
“Night shots and houses set on fire”
From 30,000 last week, the number of displaced people has now surpassed 36,000, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM): “It’s getting worse day by day”, emphasizes to AFP its manager in Mozambique Laura Tomm-Bonde
Difficult to get a precise idea of the terrain in Palma, access to the media being strictly controlled and restricted. Communications via cell phones, cut for several weeks, were able to resume. But the steady increase in the number of refugees corroborates the impression that the situation is far from peaceful.
“The situation in Palma is very unstable, there are regular shootings at night”, affirms a humanitarian who affirms that forty families arrive every day in Mueda and Nangade, in the grounds. “It is a place where you cannot sleep thinking that you will wake up without a problem”, he adds on condition of anonymity. Witnesses also evoke fires of houses and markets.
Two weeks ago, a man who had returned home after fleeing the attack was found beheaded, local police said. Issa Mohamede, who lives in Pemba, confirms that his family remained in Palma evokes “Night shootings and burnt houses” end of April. “The situation is clearly volatile”, assures a humanitarian based in Pemba, specifying that if “People continue to flee, it’s because it’s not right”.
Nearly 700,000 displaced people
So that “People are abandoning their homes” while no attack is in progress, “It is that they have good reasons, they do not feel safe”, Jeff Labovitz, IOM’s emergency director, told AFP last week. “A lot of people keep flocking” in several IDP camps within a radius of 200 kilometers south-west of Palma, confirms an MSF official.
Roads remain impassable due to the suspected presence of armed groups nearby. “With only a few possible escape routes, there is concern that people will be prevented from leaving these areas”, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees last week.
At least 454 unaccompanied children have been identified on the paths of the exodus, according to Chance Briggs, director of the NGO Save the Children, which places some of these children in foster families.
Before the attack on Palma at the end of March, the province, struggling with this jihadist guerrilla since the end of 2017, already had nearly 700,000 displaced people. President Filipe Nyusi promised a few days ago to “Restore a normal situation” and put an end to terrorist attacks “Barbarians” and “Malicious”.
Mozambican security expert Calton Cadeado, who is monitoring the situation in the north closely, says central Palma, patrolled by the military, is relatively calm, but some outlying areas remain “Vulnerable”. Jihadist violence in the region has already killed at least 2,800 people, nearly half of them civilians, according to the American NGO ACLED.