Moz masses displaced

HUNDREDS of children became separated from their families in the panic after jihadist attacks in northern Mozambique, and thousands more are suffering from malnutrition, Unicef warned yesterday.

The UN children’s agency has managed to shelter 250 children separated from their families in the assault last month on Palma, a town in northern Cabo Delgado province, long prey to jihadist attacks that have mounted in ferocity over the past year.

Alone after being separated from her family in a jihadist attack, one six-year-old girl wandered through the bushy terrain of northern Mozambique for four days before being taken in by Unicef.

With almost 700 000 displaced by the attacks, malnutrition is a growing danger for people in the poor northern region bordering Tanzania. Almost 13% of children under five already suffer from acute malnutrition.

Manuel Fontaine, emergency operations director at Unicef, said onethird of the population are already displaced.

“At this pace there will be a million by June.”|