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Donors stall on Mozambican crisis

Thousands of people in disaster-prone Mozambique face a new threat from landmines the authorities had neutralised at the end of a protracted civil war in 1992, a United Nations report said recently. However, emergency aid to reduce the danger has been slow in coming. A UN Development Programme report released last month said devastating floods in February and March displaced large quantities of contained landmines and destroyed signs marking minefields left by the war that started at independence from Portugal in 1975. The UNDP report said the movement of the landmines to new, unknown sites had slowed down humanitarian efforts to help victims of the floods, which claimed around 700 lives, displaced 650,000 people and cost the country an estimated US $600 million. Displaced rural people in the southern and central districts of Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Manica and Sofala were especially at risk, the report said. “Since this situation puts at risk the lives of thousands of displaced people and of the personnel involved in humanitarian assistance operations, the National Demining Institute has drawn up an emergency plan and redefined its priorities,” the report said. It said there was an urgent need for research to ascertain the new locations of landmines and for a demolition exercise. “Short, medium and long term operations programmed by the National Demining Institute . . . are estimated to cost US $3 million. Of this sum, so far only US $1.1 million dollars is available,” it said. The international community was moved to help Mozambique’s flood victims after footage of the rescue of a baby born in a tree in which her mother had sought refuge was televised worldwide. Donors pledged a total of US $453 million in humanitarian aid to the country at an international reconstruction conference in Rome six months ago. However, many of the pledges are yet to be fulfilled. “In overall terms, more money was pledged than had been requested. However, in some areas there is still a funding deficit since they (the needs) were not prioritized by the external partners,” the UNDP report said. It said delays in the release of donor funds had slowed down economic activity and left thousands of people in dire social and economic conditions. For example, only US $4.5 million of the US $54.3 million Mozambique requested to reconstruct health infrastructure at the May conference had been released to the government at the beginning of November. Three months ago, UNDP Resident Representative Emmanuel de Casterle urged donors to release funds for the rehabilitation of damaged roads, dykes and power lines before the onset of the wet season. However, much of the infrastructure remained unrepaired as the rain began several weeks ago. Delays in the disbursement of pledged funds last month prompted Mozambique to urge the United States to release US $55 million it promised for the reconstruction of a strategic railway damaged by the floods. The Limpopo Railway, stretching from the country’s biggest port of Maputo to landlocked Zimbabwe, is one of Mozambique’s economic lifelines. Flood-induced damage disrupted its operations, forcing Zimbabwe to re-route much of its cargo to neighbouring South Africa. The government re-opened the railway last month after emergency repair works, but is still waiting for the US funds to restore its operations to the previous level. “The Americans say the money is coming, that it is in the pipeline. Meanwhile, the economy continues to suffer,” a government economist said. Meanwhile, more damage to infrastructure and social conditions was caused by heavy rains which claimed about 10 lives early this month. The Mozambican government forecasts GDP growth this year to drop to around 3.8 percent from an average 10 percent as a result of flood-induced losses. However, economic analysts warn that persistent heavy rains in the current wet season could further slow down economic activity.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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