CNA Staff, Nov 17, 2020 / 09:00 am
The United Nations human rights commissioner has called for international attention and aid in Mozambique in response to an escalating series of attacks by Islamist militant groups.
"The situation is desperate both for those trapped in conflict-affected areas, with barely any means of surviving, and for those displaced across the province and beyond," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement released on Friday, November 13.
"Those who remain have been left deprived of basic necessities and are at risk of being killed, sexually abused, kidnapped, or forcibly recruited by armed groups. Those that flee may die trying," she said.
Local media in Mozambique reported that Islamist militants carried out executions on a soccer field in the village of Muidumbe, in the country's Cabo Delgado province, in late October into November. An estimated 50 people were beheaded.