Dozens of children, mostly girls, abducted by Mozambique fighters

Report by Save the Children says 51 minors taken by armed groups in conflict-hit Cabo Delgado in 2020, a figure likely an underestimate. The charity said in a report on Wednesday the “abduction of children has become a new and alarmingly regular tactic by armed groups” in Cabo Delgado province, where worsening fighting over the past three-and-a-half years has killed nearly 3,000 people and displaced more than 700,000, half of whom are children. Save the Children said “at least 51 children, most of them girls” were seized by non-state armed groups in the region last year, adding that the numbers involved were likely “far higher” than its estimates, which were based on data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and reflected only reported cases. “Being abducted, witnessing abductions, experiencing attacks, being forced to flee from armed groups – these are extremely traumatising events for young children and adolescents,” said Chance Briggs, the Mozambique country director for Save the Children. “There is a very high number of unaccompanied children extremely vulnerable to all kinds of abuses and exploitation,” said James Matthews, deputy head of the ICRC’s mission in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo.