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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Humanitarian Response Mozambique OCHA - UNHCR - WFP
UN warns of rising violence and food insecurity in Mozambique
The United Nations and partners today launched an appeal for US$ 254 million to provide urgently needed assistance and protection to more 1.1 million people affected by violence, conflict and insecurity in the Cabo Delgado area and neighboring provinces of Mozambique.
"The crisis in Cabo Delgado rapidly escalated in 2020, with attacks and fighting forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes every month," said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at a news conference in Geneva. “ Nearly 530,000 people are now internally displaced in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa, almost five times the number registered some nine months ago in March," he said, referencing the northernmost area of the country, in the vicinity of the border with Tanzania, and the neighboring regions to which people have fled.
The crisis in Cabo Delgado province is linked by UN experts to a combination of attacks by Islamist militants and a perceived failure by authorities to distribute some of the vast mineral and offshore gas revenues to the local population.
“People fleeing violence in Cabo Delgado have been exposed to severe violations and abuses and we are especially concerned for the plight of children and women”, the OCHA spokesperson said. “Women and girls are at risk of abduction, gender-based violence and exploitation, while boys are at risk of being killed or recruited by armed groups,” he added.
Conflict and displacement are severely affecting already overstretched essential services. More than 90 per cent of the displaced people are living with relatives or friends, whose already scarce resources are being further strained, OCHA said. Communities hosting displaced people also need support as their exemplary solidarity is reaching a breaking point.
“Many areas hosting displaced people will flood in the upcoming rainy season, we fear. Local authorities and the humanitarian community in Mozambique are working against the clock to set up new settlement areas with adequate conditions to relocate the displaced people, ” Laerke said .
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed "deep concern" over the rising number of civilians displaced in the northern parts of Mozambique as attacks by non-state armed groups continue to rage in Cabo Delgado province.
”During the last few days, attacks conducted by these armed groups have increased significantly in Palma, Nangade and Macomia districts. Many people have been forced to move multiple times, and the situation of those affected by the conflict is worsening rapidly,” UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said today.
UNHCR stressed that the situation represents a "protection crisis" for more than half a million civilians on the run. There are widespread reports of human rights abuses and disregard for international humanitarian law.
UNHCR’s Baloch said that “more than 2,000 people have been killed since the conflict started in 2017. In the violence houses have been looted and burned, families separated and health centres and schools seriously damaged.” He added that “access to agricultural land has been blocked and other economic activities curtailed. There is a serious indication that this crisis could spread beyond the country’s borders if it goes unstopped”.
”The food security situation is quite dire. There are high levels of hunger and malnutrition rates," said the World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Tomson Phiri. "More than 900,000 people in Cabo Delgado, in Niassa as well as in Nampula are now facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity," Phiri said.
With the disruption of markets, food prices are skyrocketing as supply decreases, WFP expressed deepening worries for the most vulnerable groups, including severely and acutely malnourished children, and pregnant or nursing women.
In reference to Cabo Delgado, WFP’s Tomson Phiri said that highlighted that "it has the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in Mozambique with more than half the children malnourished. Without urgent and sustained access and assistance the situation may turn into another major humanitarian disaster”.
The UN agencies and their humanitarian partners said that they counting on the support of the international community to provide timely funding to ensure that the people fleeing violence can access much-needed relief.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a cloudy day.
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The crisis in Cabo Delgado rapidly escalated in 2020, with attacks and fighting forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes every month. Nearly 530,000 people are now internally displaced in Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Niassa, almost five times the number registered some nine months ago in March”.
- Medium shot, journalist in press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “People fleeing violence in Cabo Delgado have been exposed to severe violations and abuses and we are especially concerned for the plight of children and women. Women and girls are at risk of abduction, gender-based violence and exploitation, while boys are at risk of being killed or recruited by armed groups”.
- Close up, OHCHR spokesperson
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Many areas hosting displaced people will flood in the upcoming rainy season, we fear. Local authorities and the humanitarian community in Mozambique are working against the clock to set up new settlement areas with adequate conditions to relocate the displaced people”.
- Wide shot, podium and screen in the room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): ”During the last few days, attacks conducted by these armed groups have increased significantly in Palma, Nangade and Macomia districts. Many people have been forced to move multiple times, and the situation of those affected by the conflict is worsening rapidly”.
- Medium shot, journalists in press briefing room at the UN Palais
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “More than 2,000 people have been killed since the conflict started in 2017. In the violence houses have been looted and burned, families separated and health centres and schools seriously damaged. Access to agricultural land has been blocked and other economic activities curtailed. There is a serious indication that this crisis could spread beyond the country’s borders if it goes unstopped”.
- Medium shot, spokespeople at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP): ”The food security situation is quite dire. There are high levels of hunger and malnutrition rates. More than 900,000 people in Cabo Delgado, in Niassa as well as in Nampula are now facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity”.
- Close up, journalist
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Tomson Phiri, Spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP): ”Cabo Delgado, it has to be noted, it has the highest rates of chronic malnutrition in Mozambique with more than half the children malnourished. Without urgent and sustained access and assistance the situation may turn into another major humanitarian disaster”.
- Wide shot, podium with spokespeople
- Close up, journalist in press briefing room
- Close up, hands typing
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
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“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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