© Fanny Mantaux pour Action contre la Faim
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Mueda, the refuge town
Since 2017, Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province has been the scene of violence committed by armed groups affiliated to the Islamic State. These acts of violence perpetrated in coastal towns such as Palma and Mocimboa Da Praia are forcing the civilian population to flee to neighbouring districts at all costs.
In the far north-west of Cabo Delgado, the district of Mueda is home to a large number of displaced people in search of a better life. Since 2021, Action Against Hunger, with financial support from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), has been responding to the needs of both displaced people and host communities in the province of Cabo Delgado.
Mozambique is one of the poorest countries on the African continent, yet paradoxically it is also a country with enormous wealth and natural resources such as gas. These resources are mainly to be found off the coast of Cabo Delgado, one of the country’s least-favored regions, where almost 45% of people live in extreme poverty.
The situation in Mozambique is a little-talked-about crisis. And yet 3.3 million people are experiencing emergency or crisis food insecurity, 66% of them in the Cabo Delgado region alone.
Situated near the border with Tanzania, on the Makondé plateau, the town of Mueda is marked by the remains of the Mueda massacre of 16 June 1960, which was one of the last episodes of Mozambican resistance to Portuguese colonial domination, before the outbreak of the armed struggle for national liberation. Thanks to its geographical location and the presence of extensive national and international security, this city steeped in history has so far been a safe haven in a province plagued by insecurity and frequent attacks by armed groups. For this reason, and because of its proximity to the areas under attack, Mueda is a host town for a large number of displaced people. It is the fourth district in the province with the highest number of displaced people, according to the latest official figures: out of a total population of more than 130,000, more than 70,000 people are displaced in the district, both in camps for the displaced and in the villages where they are taken in by the communities.
“The situation in Mueda is very precarious. People are settling in camps for the displaced, in makeshift shelters or in villages where the availability of basic public services is already limited. These arrivals are putting a strain on the living conditions of the host populations, by saturating the already fragile essential services in the region, and on the availability of foodstuffs”, explains Anouk Renard, Field Coordinator for Action Against Hunger in Mueda. “Displaced people flee their home town to take refuge in a new district where they have no stable source of income. They are very often dependent on the local authorities to provide them with plots of land on which they can grow, consume and sell their own crops”.
Mueda is an isolated district in a rural area, located at altitude, with real problems of access to water. The inhabitants are essentially dependent on rainwater, which only comes 6 months of the year. The area is also not immune to climate change. In recent years, rainfall has been increasing specifically in this area, while it is tending to decrease in other parts of Mozambique. As a result, fields are often flooded, causing many farmers to lose their crops and increasing the price of foodstuffs, which are in short supply.
To meet these major humanitarian needs, Action Against Hunger has opened a base in Mueda from 2021. With a team of 75 employees, the association is implementing an integrated response in the areas of food security and livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene, and health and nutrition in Mueda and in areas that are difficult to access.
© Fanny Mantaux pour Action contre la Faim
Rebuilding life in a displacement camp
After a 45-minutes drive from Mueda town, Action Against Hunger’s teams arrived at the Lianda camp for displaced persons. This camp, set up in November 2021 and initially intended for 1,000 households, is now home to 10,000 people. The small dwellings, lined up one behind the other, follow one another and look the same. All built from wood and bamboo and covered with a UNHCR tarpaulin, they were designed to last only a few months, providing temporary shelter for displaced people. However, in these living quarters families are surviving, some of whom have been there for several years.
This is the case of Ernestina Laurenco Estevao. She comes from the district of Nangade, an hour’s drive north of Mueda, and had to flee because of the presence of armed groups. She arrived at the Lianda camp 3 years ago, where she joined members of her family who were already there.
© Fanny Mantaux pour Action contre la Faim
Ernestina is one of the vulnerable people who has benefited from support from Action Against Hunger to set up her small business, known as an ‘Income Generating Activity’, enabling her to start developing a stable source of income despite her precarious situation. Thanks to this support, she is able to sell fish at the Lianda market.
“I heard that ACF was registering people who could benefit from support, so I was selected. I received training and a start-up kit. Among the activities listed, I chose to sell fish. This job allows me to help myself a little and have a minimum income, but it doesn’t cover all my needs’, she explains. ‘I have to go all the way to the coast at Mocimboa to get the fish, and that costs me a lot in terms of transport. « My life here is not easy every day, I don’t always have access to water or enough to eat. But I’m not thinking of going back home because I’ve lost my house and my life there, and that would mean starting all over again. I’d like to be able to strengthen my business here so that I can provide for my family”.
Like her, John Cypriano also comes from the Nangade district and has been living with his 3 children and wife in the Lianda camp for two years. He and his mother have also benefited from the support of Action Against Hunger to set up their small grocery shop. His narrow tent serves as a home and a grocery shop where he sells products such as oil, soups and sweets for children.
© Fanny Mantaux pour Action contre la Faim
Because many people made their living from farming in their home regions, it is only natural that they should want to return to their former lives. Action Against Hunger supports agricultural producers by giving them training in sustainable agricultural practices and providing them with seeds and tools to enable them to improve their agricultural production. These products will be used both for their family’s food consumption and for sale, to provide them with a means of subsistence.
This support in the Lianda camp enables people like André Lourenco Sigalagaia, a farmer, to train others in the farming profession. Andre comes from Palma and fled with his family to Lianda in 2020. He has been chosen by the Action Against Hunger teams to become a ‘lead’ farmer to train and encourage others to farm their own land.
“With the seeds provided by Action Against Hunger, we can grow sweet potatoes, almonds, manioc, etc., both to sell and for our own consumption”, explains Andre. The project trains 46 farmers in the Lianda camp. “I myself train 9 people and I love sharing my knowledge and passing it on to others. Today, I prefer to stay here and continue teaching, that’s what motivates me”.
© Fanny Mantaux pour Action contre la Faim
Relieve overcrowding in care services
On the same road leading to the Lianda camp for displaced persons is the Imbuo community health centre. Strangely, on this early morning in June, the queue is not that long. This is because the day coincides with the presence of Action Against Hunger mobile clinic a few kilometres away, relieving congestion at the health centre, which is usually difficult to manage.
Even before the massive arrival of displaced persons in the district, the health system was already defective and limited. Today, the few existing infrastructures, lacking resources and qualified medical staff, are having to cope with increasing needs. In order to support the public services, Action Against Hunger mobile teams made up of medical staff, nurses and doctors visit the most isolated communities several times a week, twice a month, to offer medical consultations and nutritional monitoring to children under the age of 5 suffering from acute malnutrition.
Before setting off for their day’s work in the village, the teams are organised like clockwork. First, they make an initial stop at the Imbuo health centre to collect the equipment needed to treat the patients. On arrival in the community, they set about explaining how the consultations would work to the local population, and divide into the various activities planned for the day: infant consultations with weighing and measuring of the child, raising awareness of breastfeeding, sexual and reproductive health, consultations with the doctor, mental health follow-up, etc…
© Fanny Mantaux pour Action contre la Faim
Madalena Geraldo lives in the district and is one of the non-displaced people, or host communities. She went to the Imbuo mobile clinic with her 9-month-old daughter, Yolanda. She lives in the village of Nandimba, near Mueda, with her husband and 8 children.
“This is the 4th time I’ve been to the mobile clinic for my daughter medical follow-up. My daughter was ill, and I could see from her height that she wasn’t gaining weight and that she was suffering from stunted growth. Action Against Hunger teams were able to measure her, weigh her and give her the treatment she needed. Indeed, after her consultation with the nurses, Yolanda’s arm circumference, measured using the brachial perimeter, was only 10cm, the red zone indicating that the child was suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
In addition to mobile clinics, Action Against Hunger also works directly in health centres. ‘We work in almost all the health centres in Mueda district. “We support them by training health staff and providing equipment and medical supplies”, explains Anouk Renard. “Health centers suffer from a serious problem of access to water and sanitation infrastructures that are functional. We also support them by rehabilitating and building water points, latrines and medical waste management systems”.
A worrying situation of insecurity
The situation in Cabo Delgado is increasingly volatile. Recent events at the beginning of 2024, such as the attack on the town of Macomia on 10 May, have led to fears that the situation in the region will deteriorate. As a result of the lack of attention being paid to the crisis, the international contingents that have been stabilizing the province since 2021 are now in the process of withdrawing from Mozambique, following the example of SAMIM (the peacekeeping mission of the Southern African Development Community), making the province of Cabo Delgado all the more vulnerable to attacks by armed groups.
The deteriorating security situation has led to an increase in the number of displaced people in various districts of northern Mozambique, exacerbating the deterioration in the humanitarian situation. Between January and April 2024, the number of newly displaced people jumped to around 189,000 additional people displaced, mainly in the districts of Pemba, Metuge, Macomia and Mueda.
Mozambique is also exposed to the effects of climate change, particularly in the centre and south of the country, with more frequent droughts and below-normal rainfall. These effects are having a huge impact on harvests in a country where the population relies mainly on agriculture, making them more vulnerable and in need of assistance to meet their basic needs.
Masked by other major crises such as the war in Ukraine, Sudan and, more recently, Gaza, Mozambique is suffering from a lack of funding from international donors, hampering the ability of humanitarian organisations to respond to all needs. As of 30 May 2024, only 17% of the plan to meet humanitarian needs in 2024 had been funded.
Sources :
[1] https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156717/?iso3=MOZ
[2] https://dtm.iom.int/reports/mozambique-districts-profile-mobility-tracking-assessments-r20-january-2024?close=true
[3] https://www.unhcr.org/africa/news/stories/displaced-people-mozambique-s-cabo-delgado-plead-peace
[4] Key Messages on the humanitarian situation in Northern Mozambique – OCHA Pemba
Mozambique
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