Tanzania has turned back nearly 600 displaced Mozambicans, survivors of the jihadist attack on Palma on March 24 in northeastern Mozambique, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) accused Monday (April 5).
Read also: Mozambique: the jihadists sow death in Palma
“
Nearly 600 Mozambicans seeking asylum
” have been “
turned back
” from Tanzania, UNHCR said in a statement, saying it was “
worried
” about the fate of these people “
forcibly returned
” to their country.
Monday evening, the government had not yet reacted to this information.
On March 24, armed groups attacked Palma, a port city of 75,000 inhabitants, killing dozens of civilians, police and soldiers.
The carefully prepared raid, launched just a few kilometers from the French group Total's mega-gas project, on the Afungi peninsula, has been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
The Mozambican army regained control - at least partially - of the city on Monday, according to the Mozambican authorities.
Nearly 10,000 people were displaced by the attack, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Some 23,000 others are still in the Afungi region, under military protection, according to the IOM.
The authorities fear, however, the presence of rebels infiltrated among these displaced persons.
Many residents have taken refuge in the bush, without food or access to water, escaping to districts further south, still under army control, or further north, to the nearby Tanzanian border.
