Live event summary: Countering the Insurgency in Mozambique

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A panel discussion at defenceWeb’s Countering the Insurgency in Mozambique event today discussed the humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado.

Zenaida Machado, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, says reporting in Cabo Delgado is an issue. There are limitations on journalists reporting in the area. Rwanda took a group of reporters to the terrorist-torn region, and Machado believes the Southern African Development Community should do the same.

Professor Adriano Nuvunga, director of the Center for Democracy and Development, said the situation in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps are ‘appalling’. They have water, some medical treatment but no food. Young women do not have toiletries. Some IDPs are trading sex for food.

Dino Mahtani, African programme deputy director of International Crisis Group, added that IDPs are heavily exposed. Civilians could be collateral damage as around 1 000 insurgents have melted back into civil society and may be targeted by government forces.

To view the event, please click here:

https://webinars.defenceweb.co.za/mozambique2021/