A group of 23 international Non-Governmental Organisations led by Save the Children have warned of the risk of “forgetting” the humanitarian crisis caused by terrorism that has been plaguing the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.
“There is a very real risk that, with the crisis now in its fifth year, Cabo Delgado will be completely off the international radar”, the NGOs claimed in a statement, cited by the German news agency DW.
The signatories lamented the budget deficit for assistance to people displaced by the war. “The humanitarian response in Cabo Delgado is seriously underfunded. We are not receiving enough funding to respond to the humanitarian crisis”, said the organisations.
According to the group, humanitarian assistance to Cabo Delgado is often interrupted due to a lack of funds or resources and is limited to “one-off interventions”.
“It is disappointing for us, as humanitarian organisations, to have to interrupt our efforts to meet the needs of the affected populations and witness the fact that their basic needs are neither met nor satisfied”, they said, warning that the situation in the province “is at risk of becoming a forgotten crisis”.
The organisations also called for greater flexibility in issuing humanitarian visas to allow access by specialists to Cabo Delgado, aiming to “improve the quality”, of assistance.
The group suggested that Mozambique take advantage of its membership of the United Nations Security Council to “draw the attention of donors and the international community to fund the humanitarian response in Cabo Delgado”.
Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas but has been terrorised since 2017 by armed groups who claim allegiance to the extremist group calling itself “Islamic State”.
There are about 800,000 internally displaced people due to the conflict, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).