As Islamic Jihadis continue to wreak havoc in Mozambique, a recent surge of violence and consequent civilian flight has left more than 70 children unaccounted for.
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Authorities told the BBC about the missing children on Tuesday. As thousands of people fled from Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, 72 children were separated from their families, raising fears that the kids could have been kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) affiliated militants. As of 2022, Cabo Delgado’s population was 40% Christian.
Mozambique’s military and regional troops have been fighting Muslim insurgents in the region since 2017, BBC explained. There has been a recent increase in the jihadi violence, however, with charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) estimating that 80,000 people have been displaced there just since January. The BBC reported:
The children were among those who fled over the last few weeks from Cabo Delgado’s Chiùre district to Nampula province.
Chiùre, in the south of Cabo Delgado, has been a relatively safe haven for those displaced over the last few years – with the violence mainly being reported in the north of the province.
Last week, President Filipe Nyusi said the jihadists had deliberately targeted Chiùre to abduct children.
The children might be kept by the militant kidnappers in training camps. Islamic terrorists have a history of training child jihadi soldiers. This still goes on today, for instance in Gaza, where Palestinian children are radicalized in summer camps.
Save the Children announced in a March 5 press release, “More than 61,000 children have fled a new wave of violence in Cabo Delgado provinces in Mozambique in the past two months, the highest number uprooted in such a short period.”
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Brechtje van Lith, Save the Children’s Country Director in Mozambique, highlighted the tragedy of young kids who “have never known life without war.” She added, “The recent spate of conflict and attacks represents a major setback in efforts to rebuild the lives of children and families in Cabo Delgado. We are calling for an immediate end to this conflict so children can live a peaceful life and go back to school.” Over 60% of the displaced are children, per the BBC. Unfortunately, the Islamic attacks have been going on for years now in the country.
Related: Christians Faced Astonishing Levels of Persecution in 2023
Islamic terrorism is a severe and deadly threat in multiple African countries besides Mozambique, particularly in Nigeria, where genocide is being perpetrated against Christians. Sadly, most Westerners do not seem to care at all about Islamic jihad’s victims in Africa. After all, acknowledging this horrific and widespread jihad would require an admission that “Islamophobia” is not the ideology plaguing the world, but rather violent Islam is the plague.