Mozambique: Govt to invest more in troubled Cabo Delgado region

The Mozambican government says it plans to invest over a billion dollars in the country's Northern region. Already underway, it says, is a 100 million dollar emergency programme to support health and education. 

The announcement follows the suspension of the largest private investment in Africa by TOTAL. 

The International Red Cross in  reaction to the news says it is paying close attention to the humanitarian crisis in the region.  Peter Maurer, President of the International Red Cross  said large companies cannot assume that money solves everything.

"On the one hand, I regret that a large company abandons a project, because there is always a positive investment potential. On the other hand, that investment potential is only positive if it is not seen and felt as exploitation, but rather as a positive contribution to local development." -  Peter Maurer, President of the International Red Cross

Mozambique's armed forces have been struggling to combat the terrorist threat in the region. The international community has already offered help and for Mozambican writer, Mia Couto, the country cannot continue alone.

Couto says "Mozambique has no other option but to get down to work, to roll up their sleeves and win the situation mainly by themselves but that is insufficient. In this case, that is completely insufficient". "A country in the situation Mozambique is in cannot cope with the size of that drama." he stressed.

Since 2017, the Cabo Delgado region in northern Mozambique has suffered from terrorist violence, which has led to more than 2,500 deaths and more than seven hundred thousand displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.