Report: Mozambique Soldiers Trap Civilians in Insurgent-hit North
Voice of America
JOHANNESBURG - Mozambican security forces are preventing tens of thousands of civilians displaced by jihadist attacks around the northern town of Palma from moving to safer areas, Human Rights Watch said.
Most of these people fled their homes when Islamic State-linked militants launched coordinated attacks on Palma on March 24, killing dozens as they ransacked their way through the port town. Many of the displaced sought refuge in the nearby village of Quitunda, close to a major gas project about five kilometers (three miles) from Palma, where HRW claims, in a report released Friday, they have been trapped by troops and ongoing fighting. "Government security forces have imposed restrictions that have prevented tens of thousands from leaving, placing them at risk from fighting and aid shortages," HRW said in a statement, adding that civilians caught trying to flee were "physically assaulted.”Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.