Violence in Mozambique Overshadowed by Growing Ukrainian Crisis, Catholic Charity Says

“Death, insecurity and fear are now very real for more than 800,000 people,” the Pontifical charity foundation reports.

Narrating a case of Mozambique’s dire situation, Ms. Lalonde says, “One of the people being supported by the local church told Aid to the Church in Need Canada how his son died, beheaded by jihadists just a few blocks from his home. This father is devastated and without the presence of the Church at his side, he might have taken his own life.”

ACN Canada says that the violence in Mozambique has been widely linked to the struggle for the country’s rich resources.

“These attacks began for no apparent reason, but many now believe they are linked to a struggle for territory, since this region is rich in natural resources. Not to mention the natural disasters,” the charity foundation says.

It adds, in reference to the Southern African country, “For the past three years, the region has been affected by unprecedented tropical storms. The passage of Hurricane Ana on January 24 was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 120 km/hour and torrential rains causing severe flooding.”

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Ms. Lalonde says that the needs in Mozambique, which she describes as one of the poorest countries on the African continent, are immense.

“For the past three years, many farmers have been unable to cultivate their land, which has been ripped out by terrorist groups or flooded by successive storms,” the Director of ACN Canada says.

For more than two years now, Aid to the Church in Need has been supporting hundreds of displaced families with food, hygiene products, health care and seeds.

The international charity also makes spiritual and psychosocial assistance possible for those who are traumatized and in need.

“We must continue to support them, because without us, they literally have nothing left,” the Catholic foundation reports, in reference to the victims of the Mozambican crisis.