Catholic Peace Entity Concerned about “new wave of attacks” in Mozambican Province

Cabo Delgado, 04 October, 2023 / 9:30 PM

Returnees who had been displaced from Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique are fleeing again following a “new wave of attacks” aimed at displacing them, Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI) has reported. 

According to the peace entity of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC), the returnees acted on the deception of the Mozambican government and TotalEnergies, an international multi-energy company that operates in the Southern African country.

The two, DHPI says in a report shared with ACI Africa, are lying to IDPs in Cabo Delgado that it is safe to go back home when insurgents are still wreaking havoc in the embattled Mozambican province.

“New wave of attacks in Cabo Delgado is causing returnees to flee again, contradicting claims by the State and TotalEnergies that the situation has been normalized,” DHPI says in the Wednesday, October 4 report. 

The Catholic peace entity recalls that TotalEnergies suspended operations in Cabo Delgado following a 2021 attack on Palma, a coastal town and gas hub.

Since the suspension, DHPI notes, there has been considerable pressure on IDPs to return to their homes to “prove” that the situation has been normalized, so that TotalEnergies can resume operations.

Other pressures, such as the suspension of humanitarian assistance in camps hosting IDPs who fled from Cabo Delgado, have left them with limited options, DHPI says, noting that some are choosing to go back home to evade starvation.

“Church leaders have consistently warned IDPs not to return, as the situation in their areas of origin is not yet stable, and as there is nothing to return to. They have been vindicated by the latest escalation of attacks over the past two weeks in areas that IDPs returned to,” DHPI says. 

The peace entity had gathered reports of two groups of insurgents visiting the villages in Mocímboa da Praia, a town in the northernmost part of Cabo Delgado between September 27-29. The villages were Marere, Calugo and Ulo.

On arrival, the insurgents are said to have warned people, most of them fresh returnees, to leave their homes.

The latest data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) more than 850 thousand people displaced by terrorist attacks have not yet returned to their villages of origin.  

In Mocímboa da Praia, some villagers are said to be leaving for fear of being mistaken for insurgents amid a heavy military presence in the Mozambican district.