Rwanda Defense Force

Rwandan security forces alongside their Mozambican counterparts rescued hundreds of civilians in Cabo Delgado (file photo).

Attacks in northern Mozambique are spilling over into districts previously considered safe as the violence intensified in the last few weeks, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has reported. The agency reports that close to 100,000 people have been newly displaced in the past fortnight alone.

"These simultaneous attacks in several districts are generating a huge challenge for humanitarian actors who have to multiply emergency response in different zones of the country," said Xavier Creach, UNHCR’s Representative in Mozambique. He said that civilians are being killed, and some "were even beheaded."

The violence, which began in 2017 in the country’s northernmost province, Cabo Delgado, has already displaced over 1.3 million people. But Creach said 2025 has seen a dangerous shift: attacks are now happening simultaneously and spreading beyond Cabo Delgado into Nampula Province, threatening communities that had previously hosted displaced families.