from ARMANDO DOMINGOS in Maputo, Mozambique
MAPUTO, (CAJ News) – AT least 79 people have died from cholera in northern Mozambique as health workers struggle to access the area because of running battles between terrorists and the army.
The deaths have been documented in the volatile Macomia district in the conflict-prone Cabo Delgado province.
Cholera, a treatable water borne disease, erupted in Macomia at the beginning of July.
It has particularly been spreading rapidly among communities displaced by the terror perpetrated by Islamist groups, a Jihadism affiliated to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
There has been a huge sigh of relief after a government medical team finally reached the epicentre of Pangane in recent days.
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) said deaths from the disease had ceased since the medical team’s arrival.
However new outbreaks have been reported on the Macomia islands of Vamizi, Tambuzi and Nhonge as well as in Olumbe.
A new outbreak in Ilha Matemo is reportedly under control.
Northern Mozambique is under siege from radicals engaged in a violent campaign to establish as Islamic state.
ACLED estimates that more than 2 400 people have been killed in over 500 attacks between October 2017 and this month.
Islamists behind the terror are reportedly affiliated with the globally feared Islamic State.
Terror attacks in the Cabo Delgado coincide with the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Mozambique.
The Southern African country of more than 30 million people has confirmed 2 481 cases of the virus, including 17 deaths.
– CAJ News