The United Nations (UN) refugee agency has sounded the alarm over a worsening humanitarian crisis in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province, where renewed attacks by Islamist insurgents have forced about 100 000 people from their homes since January.

In late September alone, around 22 000 people were displaced within a week, as violence spread to all 17 districts for the first time. The insurgents, locally known as al-Shabaab (unrelated to the Somali group of the same name), have waged a brutal campaign since 2017 marked by killings, abductions, and the destruction of villages.

More than 1.3 million people have now been uprooted. The conflict has collapsed health services across the north, and the UN says its $352 million appeal has received only $66 million, leaving millions without essential aid as disease and hunger deepen.