The country
Mozambique is a country in southeastern Africa that gained independence from Portugal in 1975. Located on the Indian Ocean, the country shares land borders with Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and South Africa. Its capital is Maputo. Mozambique covers an area of 799,380 square kilometers. In 2024, the country's population is estimated at around 33.9 million people. Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest and least developed states.
The humanitarian situation
Despite a temporary improved security environment, the humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado continues to force people to flee their homes. Violence by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) has displaced nearly one million people. 2.3 million children, women, and men in Mozambique will require humanitarian aid in 2024, most of them in Cabo Delgado and neighboring Niassa and Nampula provinces. Mozambique - also susceptible to climate shocks and frequent natural hazards such as drought, floods and tropical storms - was hit twice by Cyclone Freddy in early 2023.
The overall humanitarian situation in Mozambique remains of concern, in particular due to insecurity in Cabo Delgado. In 2022, renewed conflict in northern Mozambique further aggravated the plight of displaced people. As a result, many have been forced to flee multiple times. In 2022, up to one million people were internally displaced, half of them children.
Over the past year, the humanitarian situation in northern Mozambique was marked by the steady return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their home districts. IDPs had returned to their communities as a result of improved security, a desire to reunite with their families, and to reclaim their land and cultivate crops.
However, between the end of December 2023 and March 2024 , there was a new wave of violence in the north due to attacks by non-state armed groups, which caused 113,000 people to flee within the province of Cabo Delgado, but also to the province of Nampula. This is the second largest population displacement since the conflict began in 2017. Around 63 percent of the newly displaced people are children and 23 percent are women.
As of January 2024, more than 850,000 people were still internally displaced in the country due to violence by armed groups and the devastating impact of the climate crisis. Although the security situation had improved, some 670,000 women, men, and children remained displaced in Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa provinces due to protracted insecurity, more than 180,000 people are displaced following the impacts of extreme weather events.
51 percent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are women and children. Around 45 percent of IDPs are living in relocation sites, while 55 percent are living in host communities. In addition, Mozambique hosts some 25,000 refugees and asylum-seekers.
The armed conflict in northern Mozambique has also exacerbated food insecurity and malnutrition. Families have been forced to abandon their homes and fields, and erratic rains in some parts of the region have worsened crop losses. Overall, 3.3 million people face crisis levels of acute food security (IPC 3 or worse) across Mozambique between October 2023 and March 2024. About 220,000 people are suffering from emergency levels of hunger (IPC 4).
Mozambique also experiences recurrent climatic shocks - including droughts, floods, and tropical storms. In February and March 2023, one of the longest-lasting tropical cyclones on record made two consecutive landfalls over central Mozambique, causing extensive damage, claiming the lives of nearly 200 people, leaving more than 184,000 people homeless and affecting overall some 1.2 million men, women, and children in the country.
Tropical Cyclone Freddy struck one year after the devastating storm Gombe. Mozambique is considered one of the countries worldwide most likely to suffer severely from extreme weather events caused by climate change. People in the southeastern African country are living with the dual impacts of high climate risk and poverty.
Mozambique is currently experiencing its largest cholera outbreak in 25 years. More than 43,000 cholera cases and 165 deaths have been reported between September 2022 and January 2024. The outbreak has a very wide geographic spread, with 76 of Mozambique's 161 districts affected.
While cholera is endemic in Mozambique, the current outbreak is more persistent than usual and could quickly escalate into an uncontrolled situation that spreads disease and death. Recent increases in cases and deaths in neighboring Malawi and Zimbabwe underscore the risks for Mozambique.
Mozambique's water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs are enormous. In 2022, only 63 percent of Mozambicans had access to basic water services, according to estimates. The situation in the sanitation sector is even more critical, with only 38 percent of the population having access to basic sanitation.
The United Nations estimates that 2.3 million children, women, and men in Mozambique will require humanitarian aid in 2024.
In 2023, some 2 million people were in of need of life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection in the southeastern African country. Among them were 1.1 million children. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in 2023, 1.6 million people in northern Mozambique received some form of humanitarian assistance, provided by a total of 73 humanitarian organizations.
The United Nations seeks US$413 million to provide humanitarian assistance to 1.7 million vulnerable people in Mozambique in the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024. Humanitarian operations in Mozambique are facing severe funding shortfalls. The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Mozambique appealed for US$513 million to target 1.6 million people. At the start of 2024, the 2023 HRP was only 38 percent funded.
The security situation
Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado has been plagued by the rise of violent extremism since 2017. Thousands have reportedly been killed by non-state armed groups. In October 2017, Islamic extremist groups began conducting attacks against civilians and security services in the northern province.
The Cabo Delgado insurgency is an ongoing conflict primarily between Islamic militants and jihadists seeking to establish an Islamic state in the region and the Mozambican army and security forces. Human rights organizations report that violent extremists have committed serious human rights violations against civilians, which include beheadings, kidnappings, and the use of child soldiers. According to analysts, the insurgency is fueled by socio-economic exclusion amid major mineral and hydrocarbon discoveries in the northern region.
In 2020, the armed conflict in Cabo Delgado deteriorated, with a significant increase in the number and scale of attacks by extremist groups and the resulting humanitarian impact. After a sharp escalation in the first half of 2021, the conflict subsided in early 2022 following the deployment of Rwandan and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces to help the Mozambican government regain control of areas previously under the control of armed groups.
However, the conflict in northern Mozambique resumed in 2022, for the first time in areas that had not experienced attacks in Cabo Delgado and Nampula. The conflict continues to exacerbate the needs of IDPs and host communities. In late October and November 2022, the activities of non-state armed groups spread into northern Mozambique, causing new displacements and exacerbating the humanitarian needs of conflict-affected populations.
In 2023, violence in Cabo Delgado province decreased significantly compared to 2022. While improved security has eased some humanitarian access constraints and allowed for the return of IDPs, humanitarian needs remain high. As of August 2023, more than 570,000 former IDPs have returned to their homes in northern Mozambique. However, returning IDPs are experiencing poor living conditions and lack of access to basic services. According to OCHA, returnees continue to face critical needs for shelter, water, food and other emergency assistance.
Violence against civilians continued over the past year. Non-state armed groups retained the ability to carry out localized attacks. Over the course of 2023, more than 100,000 people were displaced as a result of localized attacks by NSAGs. Since the end of December 2023, large-scale attacks have resumed, displacing more than 110,000 people.
Donations
Your donation for the Mozambique emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.
- UNHCR: Mozambique emergency
https://donate.unhcr.org/int/en/mozambique-emergency
There are currently only a few active appeals for the Mozambique crisis. You may also consider making an unearmarked donation to organizations that are active in the country.
- World Food Programme (WFP): Northern Mozambique emergency
https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/northern-mozambique-emergency - UNICEF: Mozambique Appeal
https://www.unicef.org/appeals/mozambique - Médecins Sans Frontières: (MSF) Mozambique
https://www.msf.org/mozambique - Save the Children: Mozambique
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/mozambique - Care International: Mozambique
https://www.care-international.org/our-work/where-we-work/mozambique - Oxfam International: Mozambique
https://www.oxfam.org/en/what-we-do/countries/mozambique - Action contre la Faim: Mozambique
https://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/en/missions/mozambique/ - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): Mozambique
https://www.icrc.org/en/where-we-work/africa/mozambique
To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.
Further Information
- UN OCHA: Mozambique
https://www.unocha.org/mozambique - ACAPS: Mozambique Multiple Crises
https://www.acaps.org/country/mozambique/crisis/multiple-crises - Crisis Group: Mozambique
https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/east-and-southern-africa/mozambique - European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO): Mozambique
https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/africa/mozambique_en - IOM: Mozambique Crisis Response Plan 2022
https://crisisresponse.iom.int/response/mozambique-crisis-response-plan-2022 - Human Rights Watch (HRW): World Report 2024: Mozambique
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/mozambique - Amnesty International: World Report 2022/2023: Human rights in Mozambique
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/africa/southern-africa/mozambique/report-mozambique/
Last updated: 16/03/2024