AMBUSH Northern Mozambique has been plagued by jihadist violence since 2017 that has claimed several thousand victims
Soldiers in Palma, Mozambique on August 15, 2021 (illustration). — Marc Hoogsteyns/AP/SIPA
Solidarités international is in mourning. An aid worker from the French NGO was killed in an ambush by an armed group in northern Mozambique, overwhelmed by jihadist violence, we learned from the organization on Tuesday.
The NGO “is in shock at following the announcement of the death of one of their colleagues, victim of an attack by an armed group” Sunday on a road from the district of Muidumbe towards Palma, in the province of Cabo Delgado, writes Solidarités international in a press release. He was on his way after the weekend break to reach Palma from the provincial capital Pemba, when his car was damaged. targeted.
An NGO present in 23 countries
The victim, aged around 30, was of nationality Mozambican, clarified a spokeswoman for the London-based organization Paris and present in 23 countries. Other people have been killed, she added, specifying that she did not have more details to report. this stage. The generally well-informed Mozambican news site Zitamar reported a total of five dead, including Palma police chief of operations, his wife and nephew, as well as the aid worker.
Solidarités international, regularly present in Mozambique and back since last year, was preparing distributions, particularly of food in the region. “The murder of our colleague and the civilians traveling with him shocks and revolts us,” the director of the NGO, Kevin Goldberg.
More than 4,400 victims in five years
The northern province bordering Tanzania, poor and at risk; majority Muslim, is plagued by jihadist violence that has killed more than 4,400 people, including nearly 2,000 civilians since October 2017, according to the NGO Acled, which collects data in conflict zones. The violence also caused the flight of a million people, according to the UN. In March 2021, a carefully planned deadly raid had devastated the port city of Palma, 75,000 inhabitants. The natural gas megaproject of the French group TotalEnergies, in only a few kilometers, had then been stopped net.