Children aged 11 and 12 have also been beheaded by jihadists in the coastal province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique. This reports Save The Children Tuesday on its website after the aid organization spoke with several families who were eyewitnesses. It was not previously known that children were also victims of the jihadist uprising.
The organization, which mainly deals with psychological aftercare for refugee citizens, states that the atrocities already took place a few weeks ago. Only after their flight did the eyewitnesses tell their stories to aid organizations. Save The Children has recorded two testimonies, but takes into account that several teenagers have died in this way.
This jihadist uprising, made up of soldiers with close ties to the terrorist group IS, has been active in the northern coastal province of Cabo Delgado since 2017. At the moment, 670,000 Mozambicans have already fled, more than seven times more than at this time last year. More than 2,500 people have been killed, including thousands of civilians.
Arrests and prosecutions of the perpetrators are impossible, because the government has lost control and Mozambique is a conflict zone. Extremists have a free hand and are increasingly gaining ground.
In addition to jihadist violence in recent times, Mozambique is also in conflict with neighboring Tanzania, facing floods in 2020 and cyclone Kenneth in 2019. Change Briggs, director of Save The Children in Mozambique, urges to humanitarian aid for the badly affected country. However, due to the corona crisis, the country allows little foreign aid, only from southern Africa.
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