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Lusa - Business News - Mozambique: Palma residents in precarious state two years on from rebel attack - UNHCR

Maputo, March.24,2023(Lusa) - The population of Palma, a gas projects district in northern Mozambique, remains in an extremely precarious situation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned on Friday, despite improved security conditions.
"The security situation in Palma has improved since the attacks two years ago," but "the population remains in extremely precarious protection and living conditions," reads a statement.
The UNHCR statement marked the day when, in 2021, armed groups invaded the district's main town, in an attack "that resulted in dozens of deaths" and led tens of thousands to flee, worsening the humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado.
The attack also led to the suspension of work on the gas liquefaction industrial complex, the largest private project in Africa, worth around 20 billion euros.
"Since the time, more than 70,000 people have returned to their homes and 10,000 internally displaced persons have found shelter in cities in other areas," details the UN agency.
According to UNHCR data, collected in interviews with 7,425 families in Palma, "the most urgent needs are access to civil documentation and means of subsistence."
At the same time, 70% of those interviewed reported having no access to shelter, 64% said they had no food and 43% complained of having no water and sanitation services.
UNHCR says it is working "closely with a range of actors, including the government, to provide urgent protection and assistance services to displaced persons and their host communities."
Until this month, UNHCR operations in Mozambique "had been funded at only 18% of a total of $47.4 million needed to provide protection and assistance to those in need," it concluded. On Thursday, at an event also marking two years since the attack on Palma, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that Cabo Delgado province "is far from stabilised" and that fear and humanitarian needs have even worsened in some districts, despite improvements near gas projects.
Cabo Delgado province has faced an armed insurgency for five years with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The insurgency has led to a military response since July 2021 with support from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), liberating districts near gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.
The conflict has left one million people displaced, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and about 4,000 dead, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.
LFO/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
Agency : LUSA Date : 2023-03-25 12:43:00
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