The UN refugee agency warned that escalating attacks in northern Mozambique have triggered massive new displacement, with "close to 100,000 displaced in the past fortnight alone" as violence spills into previously unaffected areas.
Speaking to reporters virtually in Geneva on Tuesday, UNHCR's representative in Mozambique, Xavier Creach, said people who fled described "armed groups stormed their villages, often at night, burning homes, attacking civilians, and forcing families to flee with nothing."
The agency said it is "gravely concerned as intensifying attacks on villages and the rapid spillover of the conflict into previously safe districts force tens of thousands of people to flee across northern Mozambique," stressing that humanitarian capacity "is not keeping pace" with the scale of needs.
Creach added many endured chaotic escapes that separated families, with some now displaced for the second or third time this year.
Over 1 million impacted
The conflict, which began in the province of Cabo Delgado in 2017, has already uprooted more than 1.3 million people, according to the UNHCR.
But Creach said 2025 has brought "a dangerous shift," with attacks spreading beyond Cabo Delgado into Nampula province, where civilians arrive at makeshift sites "walking for days in extreme fear" and often "without any civil documentation and no access to essential services."
Women and girls face heightened risks, he said, especially as the crisis unfolds during the global 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. Children are arriving "exhausted, traumatized, and weakened after days of walking," with many unaccompanied or separated, Creach said.
