Maputo, Dec. 23, 2025 (Lusa) - The Tzu Chi Mozambique Charity Foundation will donate 80 tonnes of rice, 30,000 items of clothing and 9,000 pairs of shoes to those affected by terrorist attacks in Nampula, in the north of the country, it announced on Tuesday in a statement.
"The situation of the people affected by these events moved us, and given our commitment to Mozambique communities, we decided to provide support. This is a specific response to an emergency," said Dino Foi, president of Tzu Chi Mozambique, quoted in the statement after a meeting with the president of the Mozambican disaster management institute in Maputo.
According to the Buddhist-based foundation, the support is intended for communities in Memba, a district affected by rebel attacks, and aims to help the authorities "minimise the impact of suffering".
"This movement has certainly destabilised the lives of many families and we, as a charitable foundation, want to help the authorities in their efforts to minimise the impact of suffering on these communities," said Dino Foi.
The president of the National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (INGD) thanked Tzu Chi for the donation, acknowledging the foundation's support for Mozambican communities.
"We have been following Tzu Chi's intervention on the ground (...). We are very grateful because we can see what you are doing for the communities," said Luísa Meque.
In addition to providing support in the face of armed attacks, the foundation plans to provide seeds to support the agricultural production of 2,700 families affected by cyclones in Nampula, as well as five water purification machines to strengthen the INGD's response capacity in the face of flooding.
At least 12,580 people displaced by terrorist attacks in the district of Memba, Nampula province, northern Mozambique, have already returned to their areas of origin, local authorities announced on 12 December.
The latest report from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) addresses the movement of rebels associated with Islamic State Mozambique (EIM) in the regions of Eráti and Memba, in Nampula province, reporting that "as of 21 November, they had carried out 13 attacks against civilian communities in the two districts and killed at least 21 civilians," moving in "at least three groups."
"Islamic State activity in Nampula province peaked in November, with 16 events in the first three weeks of the month and the highest monthly death toll since the insurgency began".
November "is the third consecutive month in which the Islamic State has been active in northern Nampula, marking the most sustained activity in the province since the beginning of the insurgency," ACLED adds.
The organisation notes that these "repeated incursions" suggest that the group "may be seeking to strengthen existing links in the area, possibly with a view to reinforcing supply routes for recruits and goods".
The neighbouring province of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique, rich in gas, has been the target of extremist attacks for eight years, with the first attack recorded on 5 October 2017 in the region of Mocímboa da Praia.
According to the report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, of the 2,270 violent events recorded since October 2017, a total of 2,107 involved rebels associated with Islamic State Mozambique.
These attacks have caused 6,341 deaths in just over eight years, according to an official tally.
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