At least 1,235 people fled from attacks and fear of attacks by armed insurgent groups in four districts of Cape Delgado in the last two weeks of October, according to OIM.
© Lusa
03/11/2026
by
Lusa
Plink minus 1,235 people fled attacks and for fear of attacks by armed insurgent groups in four districts of the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado in the last two weeks of October, according to the International Organization for Migration.
According to the latest report of the emergency travel monitoring mechanism (ETT) of the International Migration Organisation (IOM), population movements involved 1,235 people, corresponding to 316 households, in the districts of Mocímboa da Praia, Macomia, Muidumbe and Meluco, between 14 and 27 October.
Among the displaced population there were 265 men, 386 women and 584 children, representing about 47% of the total. The IOM also identified 87 pregnant women, 58 elderly over 60 years of age, 18 disabled people and four unaccompanied or separated children from families.
Food, shelter and health care are among the most urgent needs identified by the affected populations, indicated respectively in 88%, 71% and 44% of the evaluated sites.
According to the organization, movements were triggered by attacks and fear of further attacks by non-state armed groups. The largest movements originated in the administrative post of Mocímboa da Praia, with 785 displaced, followed by Chai, in the district of Macomia, with 242 people, and Mucojo, also in Macomia, with 106 displaced. Population movements were also recorded in Muidumbe and Meluco.
IOM recorded 939 displaced, equivalent to 76% of the total, welcomed in host communities, while 296 people, or 24%, were received in resettlement centres.
Most displaced people welcomed by host communities were registered in Mocímboa da Praia, with 778 people, followed by Muidumbe, with 64, Macomia, with 39, Ibo, with 13, and Mueda, with 12.
In the resettlement centers of Macomia 296 people were welcomed, of which 219 in the Nondje Center and 77 in the Serration Center.
Cabo Delgado, a province rich in natural gas in northern Mozambique, is the scene of an armed insurgency since 2017, a conflict that has caused more than 6,600 deaths and more than 1,3 million displaced over nine years, according to international organizations.
The incidents associated with the conflict in the province increased 10% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the report “Mozambique: The cost of inaction”, released in September by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which recorded more than 400 conflict incidents in the first six months of the year.