Two million Mozambicans are in "critical" need of support and the number of people displaced by violence caused by terrorist groups and climatic effects rose to almost 851,000 in September, according to UNHCR figures.

"Mozambique hosts approximately 25,000 refugees and asylum seekers [30,000 in July], while 850,599 people remain displaced due to the violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups and the devastating impact of the climate crisis - Mozambique being one of the most affected countries in the world," reads the operational report for the end of September, launched a few days ago by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), quoted by Lusa.

The document - in which the UNHCR also estimates funding needs for assistance operations in the country in 2023 at 47.5 million dollars - recalls that the double passage of tropical cyclone Freddy in February and March 2023, "one year after the devastating tropical cyclone Gombe", affected "more than a million people, destroyed infrastructure and displaced around 184,000 people".

According to the report, two million people in Mozambique are still in "critical need of assistance and protection", 850,599 (834,304 in July) are "internally displaced", of whom 45% live in resettlement sites and 55% in host communities.

"UNHCR and partners work closely with a range of stakeholders, including the Government, to provide life-saving protection services and assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons, displaced returnees," UNHCR recognizes.