Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Catholic Church has expressed its concern at the increase in cases of child kidnapping by Islamist terrorists in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
In a letter to the Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Foundation in Lisbon, cited by the independent newsheet “Carta de Moçambique”, father Kwiriwi Fonseca, from Pemba Diocese, says that “something urgent must be done to help these children. They must be found and returned to their parents, because they deserve to dream, they deserve a better future.”
Recently, Valige Tauabo, governor of Cabo Delgado, accused the terrorists of using children as shields in their raids. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has also expressed its concern at the increase in cases of the kidnapping of children by armed groups, saying that “these kidnapped minors are forced to carry out combat and non-combat actions, which puts in danger their safety and well-being.”
Fonseca warned that these attacks are generating a new wave of displaced people “and there is a risk of the world forgetting what is happening in Mozambique, the tragedy caused by the terrorist violence since 2017, and exacerbated by the cyclones that have also ravaged this region in recent years, causing massive destruction of homes, infrastructure, and agricultural fields.”
“The humanitarian crisis caused by this war, which has lasted almost eight years, tends to be overlooked and silenced”, his letter read. “We have seen attacks worsening the crisis, homes burned, children kidnapped and displaced by war in various parts of the province and also in the neighbouring province of Nampula”.
“I am here to vehemently denounce this war, which must end, because Mozambique needs peace. We want peace. We don’t want war, we want peace”, adds the message.
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