The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Mozambique has commenced activities focused on peaceful resolution of conflicts in Cabo Delgado.
The Executive Director of CDD Mozambique, Adriano Nuvunga, revealed that he held a meeting with the Mozambican Minister of Defence, Cristóvão Chume, to discuss CDD’s conflict resolution activities in the area.
Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado is rich in off-shore natural gas but has been plagued by the rise of violent extremism since 2017.
Data from Crisis Group shows that the conflict has claimed nearly 3,000 lives, displaced hundreds of thousands and prompted the suspension of a massive gas project in Cabo Delgado by TotalEnergies.
The violence in Cabo Delgado has severely impacted health, water, and shelter facilities and access to food in the region.
‘Meeting with Gen. Cristóvão Chume, Defence Minister, as we start the 2022 activities focused on conflict resolution in #CaboDelgado’, Nuvunga tweeted.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) had reported the use of children in armed groups in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
Save the Children International (SCI) also reported the ‘beheading of children’ in Cabo Delgado. The humanitarian organisation said children as young as 11 were reportedly being killed in the province.
In March 2021, thousands of people fled into surrounding forest when Islamic State-linked militants launched attacks on the northeastern town of Palma, ransacking buildings and killing civilians.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), the insurgency in northern Mozambique has left at least 730,000 people in Cabo Delgado with no access to their lands and no means of livelihood.
Source: Adriano Nuvunga
Photo source: Adriano Nuvunga
