Return of residents to Mocimboa da Praia

The massive return of residents to the coastal town of Mocímboa da Praia, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, is putting under pressure health services, which are currently operating in a makeshift building. Health infrastructures were severely damaged by the terrorists and now, with the return of thousands of residents who had left the town, efforts are underway to restore public services, including health facilities. The clinical director Benjamin Ernesto says that Mocímboa da Praia Health Centre attends on average 150 people a day, a number that falls short of meeting the huge demand.

‘We attend cases that we can deal with. Those that we cannot deal with locally we refer them to Mueda Rural Hospital,’ said Ernesto, quoted this Monday (26) by Radio Mozambique. The Mozambican government estimates over 9,000 internally displaced residents from Mocímboa da Praia have already returned to their homes. Mocímboa da Praia was the district where armed groups carried out their first attack on 5 October 2017, and its main town was long described as the terrorists’ headquarters.

Now, security has been restored leading to an influx of families from resettlement centres spread across neighbouring provinces. After more than a year in the hands of terrorists, the town was looted, with virtually all public and private infrastructure destroyed, including public utilities such as electricity and water, telecommunications and hospitals.

A military offensive launched by government forces in 2021, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community forces, allowed the government to retake control, and there are now under way several initiatives to rebuild infrastructure. According to official estimates there are currently over 850,000 internally displaced people in Cabo Delgado due to the conflict, which also killed another 3,000 triggering a humanitarian crisis.