Page 13 - AHATA

A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 7 March 2024
New attacks by IS-linked group in Mozambique leave over 70

children missing

By TOM GOULD and GER- said Albertina Ussene, the
ALD IMRAY Nampula provincial gov-
Associated Press ernment’s director of gen-
CAPE TOWN, South Africa der, children and social
(AP) — A surge of new at- action, who was quoted
tacks by an Islamic State- by the Lusa news agency.
affiliated group in Mozam- Ussene told a meeting of
bique’s Cabo Delgado provincial officials this week
province has left more that another 29 children
than 70 children missing, had been reunited with
with fears they may have their families.
drowned in a river or been The report by the Protec-
kidnapped by militants as tion Working Group said
thousands of families fled, around 27 villages in south-
local authorities and a ern Cabo Delgado were
group of aid agencies said. attacked late last month.
Around 30 families now It said children and older
seeking shelter in Nampula people were reported to
province to the south have have drowned while trying
asked police to help locate to escape, and some men
their children, according to In this image made from video, a Mozambican soldier rides on an armored vehicle at the airport were believed to have
a report released Wednes- in Mocimboa da Praia, Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique, Aug. 9, 2021. Associated Press been kidnapped.
day by the Protection The report said an uncon-
Working Group, a network years of violence. Thou- tween early February and “There are repeated re- firmed number of people
of non-governmental or- sands were killed. early March after Islamic ports of beheadings and were killed and 500 build-
ganizations and United Na- Cabo Delgado, Mozam- State Mozambique fight- abductions, including mul- ings, including houses,
tions agencies. bique’s northernmost prov- ers launched a new offen- tiple child victims,” Save churches and markets,
The attacks have hit areas ince that borders Tanzania, sive from their heartland the Children said. were destroyed.
that had been relatively was thrust into the interna- in coastal central Cabo The U.N. high commissioner The U.N. children’s agency
untouched since the start tional spotlight in 2020 and Delgado into the south. for refugees, Filippo Gran- said the displacement of
of the jihadist insurgency 2021 when insurgents were More than 61,000 of those di, is in Cabo Delgado and tens of thousands more
in Cabo Delgado in 2017. accused of carrying out displaced were children, it was due to update on the people risks exacerbating
They may mark a new stage mass beheadings, includ- said. situation and humanitarian cholera outbreaks due to
in a crisis that aid agencies ing of children. Save the Children called it response on Thursday. overcrowding and the lack
say forced more than a The U.N.’s migration agen- the largest displacement of A total of 72 children have of clean water and sanitary
million people to flee their cy said nearly 100,000 children in Cabo Delgado now been reported missing facilities in displacement
homes during nearly seven people were displaced be- in 18 months. after the recent attacks, sites.q

Over 8,500 migrants died worldwide last year, a record since the

UN started counting in 2014

The International Organi- even if their bodies were like neighboring Iran and
zation for Migration said not found. among Rohingya refugees
the biggest increase in The Geneva-based migra- on maritime routes, IOM
deaths last year was on tion agency cautioned spokesperson Jorge Galin-
the treacherous Mediterra- that the figures likely under- do said in an email.
nean Sea crossing, to 3,129 estimate the real toll, and IOM said a record number
from 2,411 in 2022. factors such as improved of deaths also occurred in
However, that was well data collection methods Africa last year 1,866 most-
below the record 5,136 play a part in its calcula- ly in the Sahara Desert and
deaths recorded on the tions. along the sea route to the
Mediterranean in 2016 as “Every single one of them Canary Islands.
huge numbers of Syrians, is a terrible human tragedy The agency cited difficul-
Afghans and others fled that reverberates through ties in data collection in
conflicts toward Europe. families and communities remote areas, such as in
IOM said the total number for years to come,” IOM the dangerous Darien Gap
of deaths among migrants Deputy Director General in Panama, where many
A dinghy lies on the shore after a shipwreck where two in 2023 was nearly 20% Ugochi Daniels said in a migrants pass from South
migrants were killed and eight were rescued, in Thermi, on more than the previous statement. America on their way north.
the northeastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, Greece, on year. Overall, the biggest jump IOM’s Missing Migrants
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2023. It said most of the deaths in deaths in recent years project, which tallies the
Associated Press
last year, about 3,700, was in Asia, where 2,138 figures, was set up in 2014
By JAMEY KEATEN last year, the U.N. migra- came from drowning. migrants died last year, after a surge in deaths in
Associated Press tion agency said Wednes- The count also includes mi- 68 more than in 2022. That the Mediterranean and
GENEVA (AP) — A total of day, a record high since it grants who vanished often was primarily because of an influx of migrants on the

8,565 migrants died on land began counting deaths a while trying to cross by sea increased deaths among Italian island of Lampedusa
and sea routes worldwide decade ago. and are presumed dead Afghans fleeing to places off Tunisia.q