Africa-Press – Mozambique. UN Women plans to build around 400 houses by the end of the year to support women affected by terrorist attacks in four districts of the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, which has been facing an armed insurgency since 2017.
According to Marie Laetitia, the UN agency’s representative in Mozambique, the project will “also help with economic empowerment”.
She added that these houses, which are still under construction, will benefit women living in the districts of Palma, Macomia, Muidumbe and Chiúre, the latter being the epicentre of the new wave of terrorist attacks in Cabo Delgado since the end of July.
According to Laetitia, out of concern for the displaced, the agency supported Mozambique’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (INGD) to integrate gender into its climate disaster reduction policy.
Since October 2017, the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been facing an armed rebellion with attacks claimed by movements associated with the extremist group Islamic State.
According to the latest IOM report, with data from 20 July to 3 August, “the escalation of attacks and the growing fear of violence” by non-state armed groups in the districts of Muidumbe, Ancuabe and Chiúre has led to the displacement of approximately 57,034 people, a total of 13,343 families.
At the end of July, the defence minister acknowledged his concern about the wave of new attacks in Cabo Delgado, adding that the defence forces are on the ground pursuing the armed rebels.
“As a security force, we are not satisfied with the current state of affairs, bearing in mind that in recent days the terrorists have had access to areas that are more distant from the centre of gravity that we have indicated,” Cristóvão Chume told journalists.
In 2024 alone, at least 349 people died in attacks by Islamic extremist groups in Cabo Delgado province, an increase of 36% on the previous year, according to data recently released by the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, an academic institution of the US Department of Defence that analyses conflicts in Africa.
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