UN: Nearly 30,000 fled attacks in Mozambique’s Palma since March

Attacks marked major intensification in violence that has wreaked havoc across Cabo Delgado for over three years.

Tens of thousands of people have fled the town of Palma in northern Mozambique following attacks late last month that killed dozens of people, the United Nations has said. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday that approximately 30,000 people fled Palma since the fighters linked to ISIL (ISIS) raided the coastal town on March 24. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said the agency was “deeply concerned by the humanitarian consequences of the rapid escalation of violence” in northern Mozambique, voicing particular concern about “the safety and wellbeing of the most vulnerable among the displaced, including women and children”.