Mozambique Has 662,000 Internally Displaced, Fifth-Highest in Eastern and Southern Africa

The Scale of Displacement in Mozambique

Mozambique is now the fifth most-affected country in Eastern and Southern Africa when it comes to internal displacement, according to a mid-year report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). By 30 June, 662,000 people had been forced to leave their homes, placing the country behind only Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan and Ethiopia in the regional tally.

The bulk of the displacement is directly linked to the armed insurgency in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, where attacks by non-state groups have driven 438,000 people from their communities since 2017. An additional 224,000 people were displaced by natural disasters, chiefly cyclones, storms and flooding that regularly batter the country’s coastline during the rainy season from October to April.

June brought a sharp rise in security incidents. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 73 violent events in the north, resulting in 10 civilian deaths and 72 abductions. Violence against civilians remained the dominant pattern, particularly in the hardest-hit districts, further restricting humanitarian access and triggering fresh population movements.

Conflict and Climate: Twin Drivers of the Crisis

The Unrelenting Insurgency in Cabo Delgado

The displacement crisis in Cabo Delgado is the human face of a long-running conflict. Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) shows that since the start of the insurgency, there have been over 2,400 violent events, with more than 2,200 linked to the Islamic State Mozambique (EIM) faction. The reported death toll exceeds 6,600. The June uptick in abductions—72 people reportedly taken for forced recruitment, forced labour or ransom—underscores how insurgent tactics increasingly target civilians, compounding the humanitarian strain.

Natural Hazards Amplify Human Suffering

While conflict accounts for two-thirds of the internal displacement, Mozambique’s exposure to extreme weather is the other major driver. The country ranks third in the region for disaster-induced displacement, with 224,000 people uprooted. The latest rainy season alone affected around 750,000 people in the south through severe flooding. Because many of those displaced by cyclones and floods were already living in precarious conditions, the compounding of climate shocks with background insecurity makes durable solutions—such as safe returns or resettlement—exceptionally difficult.