Children bear the pain of conflict in Mozambique

Children in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado are suffering as a result of a protracted conflict in the region, with many left orphaned by the fighting and separated from their families.

The number of unaccompanied or separated children fleeing Cabo Delgado for resettlement centers in the city of Montepuez jumped from 395 at the end of June to 550 at the end of July, according to the charity Save the Children.

The organization said on Monday that its child protection workers registered an average of five unaccompanied or separated children a day arriving in camps last month.

"Save the Children is gravely concerned for the mental and physical well-being of the hundreds of unaccompanied and separated children in Cabo Delgado," the organization said.

The children's lives have been upended by an insurgency involving extremists that began in Cabo Delgado in October 2017 when assailants began a two-day attack on government buildings and police stations in Mocimboa da Praia.

Save the Children quoted a 14-year-old boy who has been living with his neighbor after his father was murdered in the conflict and his mother and sister fled for their lives.

"I was living with my father and mother. The armed men killed my father," the grade six pupil said. "I would like to be supported with school materials and a bike to ride to school because it's far away. We would also like food because sometimes we don't have enough food."

New testimonies collected by Save the Children toward the end of June indicate that children displaced by conflict in the province are showing signs of severe mental stress and distress, including crying constantly and refusing to eat and play.

Horrific scenes

The organization said children aged younger than 10 have witnessed horrific violence including the murder of their parents, leaving them deeply traumatized.

"The day after the attacks, I went back to my house to pack some things. But it was too late. I found my husband murdered," a woman narrated to Save the Children.

"My baby son doesn't really know what happened, but he keeps asking for his dad. My daughter understands her father is dead. When she found out her father had been killed, she was very sad."

According to the organization, 336,000 children have been displaced by the conflict in Cabo Delgado, with almost 5,000 people having moved from Palma to other districts as a result of the conflict in the last week of June alone.

Additionally, at least 1,461 people have died due to direct civilian targeting, including an unknown number of children and at least 51 children, most of them girls, have been abducted over the past 12 months.

Chance Briggs, Save the Children's country director in Mozambique, said the crisis in Cabo Delgado is a children's crisis. "As such, the needs of children must be front and center of any regional response. These children rely on the adults in their lives-including their political leaders-to protect them," he said.

The Southern African Development Community will hold the 41st ordinary summit of heads of state and government in Malawi on Aug 17-18. Save the Children is calling on the leaders to ensure that any regional response to the crisis takes into account the urgent needs of displaced children.