Nanjua, Mozambique: Nearly one million people have been displaced by Islamic extremist insurgency in the north due to beheadings, shootings, rapes and kidnappings. mozambique,
A 5-year wave of jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado province has killed more than 4,000 people and ruined billions of dollars of international investment.
In dilapidated tents and thatched huts sprawl around Nanjua, a small town in the southern part of Cabo Delgado province, several hundred families are seeking protection from violence. They say their condition is poor and food aid is scarce but they fear returning home because of continued violence by rebels in what is now the Islamic State Mozambique province.
More than 1,000 miles to the south, however, government officials in the capital Maputo are saying the insurgency is under control and are encouraging displaced people to return to their homes and energy companies to restart their projects.
“Terrorists are on the run permanently,” Mozambique’s president philip nusi Assured investors at the Mozambique Energy and Gas Summit in Maputo in September. He urged international energy officials to resume work on their stalled liquefied natural gas projects.
Mozambique’s army and police force, supported by Rwandan troops and supported by a regional force South African Development CommunityOfficials say the extremists have been successful in controlling the insurgency.
“These places are now back to normal and civilians are coming back,” said the Rwandan brig. general Ronald Raviwangatold Rwandan newspaper The New Times this month that normal life was returning to Palma district.
Energy companies say they want to see displaced people return to the area. A $60 billion liquefied natural gas projects led by France-based TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil were suspended last year after rebels seized the nearby city of Palma in March.
Speaking at the summit in Maputo, Stéphane Le Gales, head of TotalEnergies’ Mozambique gas project, said “the direction is very good” but the company still wants to see “a sustainable economic situation, not only in Palma but … In Cabo” Delgado.”
Despite the heavy presence of Mozambican and Rwandan troops, attacks by extremists continue. Earlier this month, rebels spread their violence for the first time in neighboring Nampula province, where a Catholic mission was targeted and an elderly Italian nun was among those killed.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said it “considers the security conditions in Cabo Delgado to be too unstable to allow or promote a return to the province,” in a statement issued earlier this month.
“Those who have lost everything are returning to areas where services and humanitarian aid are largely unavailable,” the UNHCR said.
There is a mixed situation with the returnees. Economic life is starting to return but infrastructure and public services are still lacking. Few schools are open and health services are scarce.
In the provincial capital Pemba, where more than 100,000 displaced people have sought asylum, an elderly woman sat outside a hut where her 15-year-old family had lived after fleeing a rebel attack two years ago. They subsist on a meager diet of corn flour and plain rice. He said that due to lack of work, he did not have money for clothes or other essentials.
“Sure, we want to go back. This is not a house,” said the grandmother, who spoke on condition of anonymity for her own safety.
Further north of their villages now destroyed, she says it will be even more difficult to resume normal life.
Weighing the risks and costs of return, many have decided to stay in displacement camps despite facing deprivation.
“Over there, there is war and hunger,” said another displaced person at the Nanjua camp. “We’re not going to a better place.”
A mother who nursed a young child sitting on a grass mat said the threat of extremist violence remains a matter of concern. She said that many remain haunted by their experiences at the hands of rebels: “It’s hard to sleep in a place where you’ve seen a snake.”
A 5-year wave of jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado province has killed more than 4,000 people and ruined billions of dollars of international investment.
In dilapidated tents and thatched huts sprawl around Nanjua, a small town in the southern part of Cabo Delgado province, several hundred families are seeking protection from violence. They say their condition is poor and food aid is scarce but they fear returning home because of continued violence by rebels in what is now the Islamic State Mozambique province.
More than 1,000 miles to the south, however, government officials in the capital Maputo are saying the insurgency is under control and are encouraging displaced people to return to their homes and energy companies to restart their projects.
“Terrorists are on the run permanently,” Mozambique’s president philip nusi Assured investors at the Mozambique Energy and Gas Summit in Maputo in September. He urged international energy officials to resume work on their stalled liquefied natural gas projects.
Mozambique’s army and police force, supported by Rwandan troops and supported by a regional force South African Development CommunityOfficials say the extremists have been successful in controlling the insurgency.
“These places are now back to normal and civilians are coming back,” said the Rwandan brig. general Ronald Raviwangatold Rwandan newspaper The New Times this month that normal life was returning to Palma district.
Energy companies say they want to see displaced people return to the area. A $60 billion liquefied natural gas projects led by France-based TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil were suspended last year after rebels seized the nearby city of Palma in March.
Speaking at the summit in Maputo, Stéphane Le Gales, head of TotalEnergies’ Mozambique gas project, said “the direction is very good” but the company still wants to see “a sustainable economic situation, not only in Palma but … In Cabo” Delgado.”
Despite the heavy presence of Mozambican and Rwandan troops, attacks by extremists continue. Earlier this month, rebels spread their violence for the first time in neighboring Nampula province, where a Catholic mission was targeted and an elderly Italian nun was among those killed.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said it “considers the security conditions in Cabo Delgado to be too unstable to allow or promote a return to the province,” in a statement issued earlier this month.
“Those who have lost everything are returning to areas where services and humanitarian aid are largely unavailable,” the UNHCR said.
There is a mixed situation with the returnees. Economic life is starting to return but infrastructure and public services are still lacking. Few schools are open and health services are scarce.
In the provincial capital Pemba, where more than 100,000 displaced people have sought asylum, an elderly woman sat outside a hut where her 15-year-old family had lived after fleeing a rebel attack two years ago. They subsist on a meager diet of corn flour and plain rice. He said that due to lack of work, he did not have money for clothes or other essentials.
“Sure, we want to go back. This is not a house,” said the grandmother, who spoke on condition of anonymity for her own safety.
Further north of their villages now destroyed, she says it will be even more difficult to resume normal life.
Weighing the risks and costs of return, many have decided to stay in displacement camps despite facing deprivation.
“Over there, there is war and hunger,” said another displaced person at the Nanjua camp. “We’re not going to a better place.”
A mother who nursed a young child sitting on a grass mat said the threat of extremist violence remains a matter of concern. She said that many remain haunted by their experiences at the hands of rebels: “It’s hard to sleep in a place where you’ve seen a snake.”