AfricaPress-mozambique: Thousands of people are awaiting rescue by sea from the coast of Palma district, the only possible route to safety, O País reported on Wednesday (June 23).
Almost every day, ships carrying hundreds of people displaced from Palma, where terrorist attacks have not stopped since 24 March, arrive in Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado province.
In the 48 hours prior to publication, around 500 people, mostly women and children, had landed on Paquitequete beach in Pemba bay, for several months now the main arrival point for survivors of terrorism.
According to the refugees, a number of villages in Palma district are completely abandoned and many others risk becoming so as a result of actions by the armed groups that continue to murder and kidnap civilians in the province.
“We are fleeing a war. There are beheadings every day, and shooting. It’s a real war and there is no signs of it ending soon,” said Salima Momade, displaced from Palma with her husband and arriving in Pemba with two bundles of belongings.
In addition to escaping death, the survivors see themselves as escaping abduction by the armed group, which has allegedly left parts of Palma district deserted.
“There are few people left in Palma. You hear gunfire there every day,” said Bacar Fumo, who arrived in Pemba with only half his family.
“They kidnapped five of my children, plus a woman with two children and two girls, all relatives,” Fumo reported. Having escaped death, he continues to suffer in Pemba, living in the open on Paquitequete beach.
In addition to family members, the displaced leave behind thousands of people waiting for transport to safe areas.
“Almost the entire population of Palma is concentrated in a village in the coastal area, and only does not come to Pemba because they do not have the money to pay for transport, which costs 2,500 meticais per person. When it is a family with children and luggage, you can negotiate with the boat owner,” reports Abudo Raibo, another displaced person with no family in Pemba and therefore still living on the beach.
Now, when they land on Paquitequete beach, survivors of the terrorist attacks are greeted only by Defence and Security Force personnel, not by humanitarian organizations, as was previously the case.
‘O País’ sought from the authorities an update on the security situation in Cabo Delgado as concerns the displaced arriving in Pemba and those awaiting rescue in Palma, but, as usual since the terrorist attacks began, it has not received an answer.
