By Daniel Itai, Maputo, Mozambique.
(News of The South) – 2.5 million Mozambicans are in urgent need of humanitarian aid due to drought, cyclones, floods and insecurity. More than 704 000 children have been screened for acute malnutrition.
Funding is needed to enable partners to rapidly scale up in hard-to-reach, at-risk and insecure areas, most notably in the provinces of Sofala, Manica and Cabo Delgado.
More than half a million people are still living in destroyed or damaged homes or makeshift shelters nine months after Cyclone Idai and eight months after Cyclone Kenneth.
For the first time in many years, pellagra, a vitamin B-3 deficiency has been reported in the country, with over 3 500 cases identified to date.
The food crisis is also being exacerbated by the ongoing attacks by a terrorist organisation with possible links to ISIS in Cabo Delgado.
This year, more than 600 people were killed, while this month has seen 17 attacks from the unknown terrorist group, the most recent occurring on Tuesday.
“There are indicators of Islamic extremism involved in some of these cell structures. We are sitting with a serious, serious problem.
The Islamic State does not need a well-run organisation. They need a proxy and some of these cells are the ideal proxy,” said Jasmine Opperman, the Africa associate of Islamic theology on counterterrorism.
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