‘We were terrified’Mendes Luciano told AFP of “suffering”, adding that they had “not eaten almost anything” since they arrived last week.”Men arrived with firearms and machetes and came to burn the cars. We were terrified, and on February 20, we fled here” the 23-year-old father of two said.”The primary needs reported across all hosting districts include food, shelter or non-food items, and health services and support,” an IOM spokesperson told AFP.The insurgency erupted in October 2017 when fighters — since proclaimed to be affiliated the Islamic State group — attacked coastal areas in gas-rich northern Cabo Delgado, close to the Tanzanian border.Since July 2021, thousands of troops from Rwanda and the SADC regional bloc have deployed to shore up the Mozambican military and have since helped retake control of much of Cabo Delgado.The SADC mission is to come to an end by mid-July, according to the bloc.But Suaze told reporters he refused “to talk about this, at least for now”.He insisted Mozambique was “doing everything it can” to “fight terrorism and guarantee security for the population at such a level that the fact that a certain force left or another remained is not noteworthy”.”The government is paying attention,” he said.Last week President Filipe Nyusi confirmed new population movements, but played down the threat and insisted security forces had the situation under control.Almost 5,000 people have been killed and almost a million have been forced to flee their homes since IS-linked militants launched the insurgency.
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