Mozambique: Jihadi Violence Sparks Year-high Number of Children Fleeing

Displaced families in the Cabo Delgado province fled on June 14, 2022 after armed insurgents who attacked their community on June 12th.

By Lauriane Noelle Vofo Kana with AFP

A new wave of violence in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, has force more than 30,000 children to flee in June. The Ngo Save the children said Fridayt, it was the highest number of children uprooted in a single month since the jihadist insurgency destabilized the region in 2017.

More than 4,000 people have been according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Since July 2021, a 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission (SAMIM) backs Mozambique in its fight against jihadism in Cabo Delgado.

If the alliance has enabled the military advances on the field, insecurity remains prevalent in the oil rich province.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Children in Cabo Delgado are above the national average in most social negative indicators such as chronic malnutrition, school completion rate, illiteracy rate and access to basic social services.