Aid is Desperately Needed in Mozambique as the Security Situation Deteriorates
Statement from Refugees International’s Program Officer Mark Wood and Senior Fellow Sarah Miller:
“The recent increase in insurgent attacks across villages and towns in Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique has led to a rapidly growing humanitarian and displacement crisis even as cuts in international aid have hobbled the humanitarian response. Refugees International calls upon all armed groups to cease attacks on civilians and calls on donor countries to surge aid for protection and life-saving services.
The latest surge in attacks by armed groups, including a group that links itself to the Islamic State, has been mostly aimed at civilians and has led to at least 20,000 people being newly displaced, half of them children, as of September 24, 2025. The attacks have been especially gruesome and unpredictable in the country’s northern province of Cabo Delgado, marked by abductions, killings, and sexual assaults.
Many of those displaced have already been forced to flee multiple times, part of a total of 1.3 million people who have been displaced due to conflict, cyclones, and drought since 2017. Sporadic violence over the past eight years has been temporarily quelled by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwandan forces. However, with the recent withdrawal of SADC forces and the expansion of insurgent attacks, Mozambican Defense Forces and the remaining Rwandan troops are stretched too thin.
Aid actors are sounding the alarm that massive cuts in foreign aid assistance compound the security and humanitarian situation. Indeed, the U.S. alone dropped from approximately $821 million in aid to Mozambique in 2024, to $243M in 2025, with HIV/AIDS, emergency response and health being among the sectors losing funds. These cuts are part of a wider picture of aid groups shrinking or ceasing operations altogether due to funding shortages. Some have remained on shoestring budgets, even as aid workers are targeted, and some have had to suspend work in certain areas due to deteriorating security conditions. As of July, OCHA’s Mozambique Humanitarian Response Plan was only 19 percent funded. Aid agencies now aim to target only 317,000 people from the originally targeted population of 1.1 million. This falls against the backdrop of hunger, with an estimated 2.6 million people likely to reach IPC level 3 (crisis) food insecurity between October 2025 and March 2026.
Internally displaced people in the region continue to lack access to basic services and are in desperate need of assistance. Without sanitation and clean running water, there is an increased risk of diseases like cholera spreading in densely populated areas. The lack of aid has also stretched aid organizations beyond their capacity, with women and girls bearing the brunt of this burden. Refugees International’s report in 2024 underscored the risks women and girls face in displacement in northern Mozambique, including early and forced marriage, sexual exploitation, and survival sex. The conflict also continues to fuel family separation and an increase in unaccompanied minors.
Armed groups must cease attacks on civilians, and the United States and the European Union need to restore aid to the region. In particular, the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid for Mozambique should scale up its efforts for immediate life-saving assistance. Regional actors must also provide diplomatic and security support to secure the region and ensure humanitarian access. Without an immediate surge in humanitarian assistance and global attention, Mozambique’s civilians will face growing devastation as the fighters targeting them are emboldened to expand their reach.”
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Etant Dupain at edupain@refugeesinternational.org.