Boat carrying survivors from Mozambique militant attack on gas town
arrives in Pemba
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[April 01, 2021]
PEMBA (Reuters) - A boat carrying
more than 1,000 survivors of a highly organised, deadly attack by
Islamic State-linked insurgents in northern Mozambique arrived in the
port of Pemba on Thursday, a Reuters reporter and a diplomatic source
said.
Aid workers were at the crowded port to give food to those disembarking
from the green and white ferry, while police and soldiers kept control
of crowds of people excited to see their relatives rescued after the
attack that began last week in Palma, the reporter said.
Islamist insurgents have been increasingly active in the surrounding
province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, although it is unclear whether they
have a unified aim or what specifically they are fighting for.
The district where Palma is located is adjacent to natural gas projects
worth $60 billion. It is home to around 110,000 people according to
United Nations estimates, of whom more than 40,000 sought shelter there
after fleeing other attacks elsewhere.
Aid groups believe the attack has displaced tens of thousands of people,
many of whom fled into dense forest or attempted to escape by sea.
Hundreds, including many foreign workers, have been evacuated by air.
The fighting was continuing as recently as Tuesday, said security
sources involved in rescue efforts and the United Nations, while
Portugal is reportedly ready to send 60 soldiers to help train armed
forces in Cabo Delgado.
Reuters has not been able to independently verify the accounts from
Palma. Most means of communication to the town were cut off after the
attack began last Wednesday. Phone calls to Mozambique's government and
security officials went unanswered on Thursday.
The ferry docked at around 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) in Pemba, the
provincial capital of Cabo Delgado.
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People wait for friends and relatives as a ship carrying more than
1,000 people fleeing an attack claimed by Islamic State-linked
insurgents on the town of Palma, docks in Pemba, Mozambique, April
1, 2021. REUTERS/Emidio Jozine
A diplomatic source with direct knowledge of the rescue operation
said there were roughly 1,200 people on board, including 300
children and 400 women. The source said all those on board were
people displaced by the violence.
An official at the International Committee of the Red Cross said the
government was screening those arriving at Pemba to prevent
infiltration by armed groups.
Mozambique's government has confirmed dozens of deaths in Palma,
including at least seven killed when militants ambushed vehicles
trying to escape a besieged hotel. Witnesses have described bodies
in the streets, some of them beheaded.
However, the full scale of the casualties and displacement remains
unclear.
As of Wednesday afternoon, a U.N. migration agency tracker showed
more than 8,100 people had been displaced, almost half of them
children. Roughly 20% had arrived in Pemba, with others turning up
in the districts of Mueda, Montepuez and Nangade in Cabo Delgado.
(Reporting by Emidio Jozine in Pemba and Emma Rumney in
Johannesburg; Additional reporting by Manuel Mucari in Maputo,
Alexander Winning in Johannesburg, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town and
David Lewis in Nairobi; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Hugh
Lawson)
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