Mozambique: Spiralling hunger crisis and violence amid collapsing aid budgets

 

In a visit to the neglected crisis raging in the north of Mozambique, Egeland described it as at a “critical tipping point,” sounding the alarm over skyrocketing violence, the devastation from multiple cyclones, and the near collapse of aid lifelines due to global funding cuts.  

“In a region suffering from daily atrocities and monthly disasters, I have seen the human toll caused by the global retreat of solidarity and funding. Climate shocks, increasing violence, and spiralling hunger are having a terrible impact on the population. They now stand at the edge of an abyss, with immense suffering ahead unless the world ends its neglect,” said Egeland.  

Armed attacks in Cabo Delgado surged by 155 per cent in March alone, with 52 atrocities resulting in 153 abductions and 39 killings. The violence has displaced over 1.4 million people to date, while more than 600,000 others who have returned home now face renewed insecurity and little to no assistance.  

Simultaneously, three consecutive cyclones—Chido, Dikeledi, and Jude—have battered Mozambique in just three months, affecting more than 1.4 million people, and destroying homes, schools, health centres and farmland across several provinces.  

The compounded crises have pushed nearly five million Mozambicans into critical levels of hunger, with over 900,000 facing emergency conditions—just one step below famine.   

“Hunger took hold in Mozambique the moment conflict did,” Egeland said. “Where bullets fly, crops wither, supply chains collapse, and families are left hungry.”  

In conflict-hit Cabo Delgado, farming and markets have collapsed; in Nampula and Zambezia, cyclone-damaged crops have left families struggling to survive.  

Fuel shortages, infrastructure damage, and insecurity are now paralysing aid operations across the country. Humanitarian agencies, including NRC, have been forced to reduce life-saving activities due to lack of funds and growing access challenges, including administrative and bureaucratic restrictions, attacks and ambushes on aid convoys.  

“In 2024, we reached over 125,000 people, but the scale of this crisis far outstrips our current capacity,” Egeland said. “We have been forced to drastically reduce our first line response—such as survival kits and shelters to people left homeless by the latest cyclone—because of the US funding cuts.”   

The World Food Programme has already halved its assistance, reaching only 520,000 people of the one million targeted in 2024. This year, the number of people receiving food aid is expected to plummet even further to just 250,000, despite the growing number of people in need.  

“Mothers I met told me they don’t know who they would turn to if we had to stop helping them,” Egeland said. “They’ve already had to cut down on their food, and their children are sleeping hungry. I want to be clear that, whatever happens, we are here to stay and deliver, and we must find a way to keep delivering in a world of chaos.   

“I call on governments and the private sector to urgently mobilise funding, guarantee safe access for aid workers, and commit to long-term support for the rights and dignity of displaced Mozambicans. Several governments and multinational corporations are in Mozambique for its natural resources, with little returns to the impoverished population.”  

NRC stresses the need for immediate and sustained international action to avert a full-scale famine, restore food security, and support the country’s fragile recovery. This includes urgent investment in agricultural recovery and fisheries support for coastal areas, nutrition for children, and protection for people forced to flee violence.  

“Turning our backs now is not an option—for the sake of millions facing starvation, and for our shared humanity,” Egeland said.  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).