The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed concern on Tuesday about a sharp increase in violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) against civilians in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, with tens of thousands forced to flee their homes. While some aid agencies have had to temporarily suspend relief activities due to insecurity, other humanitarian operations have been brought to a halt due to a severe lack of funding.
More than 20,000 people, including 10,000 children, have recently been displaced in Cabo Delgado. The actual number of people affected is potentially much higher, as many families flee into the bush and return home whenever security conditions permit. Immediate needs include food, shelter, non-food items, and protection services.
Since the beginning of the year, over 110,000 people have been displaced in the province. OCHA reports that the ongoing insecurity is also disrupting essential services, forcing humanitarian organizations to temporarily pause operations in some locations.
In an update on Tuesday, the UN humanitarian office warned that, as of the end of August 2025, there had been 519 incidents affecting civilians in the province, surpassing the total number of such incidents recorded in all of 2024. These incidents include aerial bombardments, looting, killings and the burning of homes.
According to an OCHA report released on Monday, in addition to people displaced, there are also vulnerable people remaining in their communities. Many of these are returnees who had previously been displaced and returned to their home areas when humanitarian aid provision in the displacement areas, primarily in southern Cabo Delgado, dropped significantly.
Humanitarian agencies are working to provide assistance to those affected by violence in the districts of Mueda, Muidumbe, Ancuabe, Balama and Montepuez. So far, they have assisted more than 11,000 people, but many other districts remain without support due to severe funding shortages.
OCHA reports that ongoing insecurity is also disrupting essential services, with some humanitarian organizations having to temporarily pause operations.
On Friday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that the upsurge of violence in northern Mozambique was making it extremely difficult to deliver medical care safely in multiple areas of Cabo Delgado.
Following attacks in MocĂmboa da Praia, the medical humanitarian organization said it had taken 'the painful decision' to temporarily suspend activities in the town and district. MSF has called on all armed groups to ensure the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and medical facilities from ongoing violence.
“We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence and its direct impact on every aspect of people’s lives, including access to healthcare,” said VĂctor GarcĂa Leonor, MSF head of operations for Mozambique, in a statement.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are in dire need of medical and humanitarian assistance in Cabo Delgado. But insecurity is continuously cutting them off from reaching it. This results in preventable deaths and suffering.”
According to OCHA, flights operated by the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) to Macomia were suspended for six days.
With growing needs and only 20 percent of the US$352 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Mozambique secured, recent funding cuts have forced the suspension of critical water, sanitation and hygiene programs, leaving over 260,000 people in Cabo Delgado without access to essential services.
In response to the global funding crisis, aid agencies have reallocated their resources, focusing on only 317,000 people — a staggering 71 percent reduction from the original target of 1.1 million. Implementing the revised plan will require $126 million.
Amidst funding cuts and heightened insecurity, frontline humanitarian organizations such as the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) are being forced to make harsh decisions about how to allocate aid. In a June report, NRC identified Mozambique as one of the world's most neglected displacement crises.
Mozambique is currently facing simultaneous crises, with an estimated 5.2 million people – including around 3.4 million children – nationwide requiring urgent humanitarian assistance to cope with the effects of conflict, cyclones and drought. This includes around 1.3 million people in Cabo Delgado and neighboring Niassa and Nampula provinces.
The situation in Cabo Delgado is particularly challenging due to the volatile nature of the conflict and the difficulty of reaching affected populations with aid. OCHA emphasizes that flexible and predictable funding is urgently needed to address the province's humanitarian needs.
Thousands of children under five in the country are at high risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) due to a shortage of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), which is caused by a lack of available funding. A major funding shortfall is also crippling national health programs and the humanitarian health response.
Over the past few months, Mozambique has experienced one emergency after another, including deteriorating conflict in the north, intensifying and recurring climate shocks, and deadly disease outbreaks such as cholera. Meanwhile, humanitarian funding has persistently been insufficient.
The southeastern African country is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events and frequent natural disasters, such as droughts, floods and tropical storms. In the first half of 2025, the country was hit by two tropical cyclones in less than three months: Cyclone Dikeledi in January and Cyclone Jude in March, which affected over 1.3 million people, caused dozens of deaths and severely damaged critical infrastructure.
Throughout the 2024/25 rainy season, three cyclones — Dikeledi, Jude and Chido in December 2024 — caused at least 180 deaths, impacting nearly 1.8 million people in total.
Further information
Full text: Mozambique: Conflict and violence in Cabo Delgado affecting civilians - Flash Update #1, As of 29 September 2025, report, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), released September 29, 2025
https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/mozambique/mozambique-conflict-and-violence-cabo-delgado-affecting-civilians-flash-update-1-29-september-2025-enpt