The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is appealing for $413 million in emergency funding to help more than 1.7 million people in Mozambique cope with climate disasters and an insurgency concentrated in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The UN estimates that 2.3 million children, women and men in the country will need humanitarian assistance in 2024, most of them in Cabo Delgado and the neighboring provinces of Niassa and Nampula.
Mozambique
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says it is deeply concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province, as a recent upsurge in violence by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) continues to force thousands of people to flee to southern districts in search of safety. Since the latest outbreak of violence and attacks against civilians in early February, more than 70,000 women, children and men have been forcibly displaced.
International donor funding to alleviate hunger in the world's neediest countries plummeted in 2023, despite exacerbating global food insecurity reaching record highs, aid agencies warn. Humanitarian appeals for the 17 countries bearing the brunt of food insecurity suffered a staggering funding gap of 65 percent last year, up 23 percent from 2022, according to an analysis released this week by the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released US$125 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost underfunded humanitarian operations in fourteen countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. Afghanistan and Yemen top the recipient list with $20 million each.
In Malawi and Mozambique, the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record has left a trail of destruction and continues to cause extensive damage and loss of lives from torrential rains and strong winds. Cyclone Freddy hit Mozambique a second time on Saturday night and has before devastated parts of Malawi, killed at least 292 people in both countries, and left tens of thousands homeless. Dozens of people are reported missing.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that it will be forced to suspend its life-saving assistance to one million people in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province unless additional funding is urgently received. In a media briefing Friday, the UN agency said it is also faced with funding shortfalls for the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) that WFP runs on behalf of the entire humanitarian community.