More than 7,000 people have fled their homes in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province since late September, escaping fresh violence and the fear of further attacks by non-state armed groups. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said its tracking data recorded 7,029 people displaced between 21 September and 27 October 2026.

The displacement came in two waves. IOM recorded 5,794 people forced from their homes between 21 September and 13 October, and a further 1,235 between 14 and 27 October. The agency stressed that some families have been forced to flee more than once, leaving them even more vulnerable.

Women and children make up nearly 80 per cent of the most recent arrivals. In the latest two-week period alone, 584 children and 386 women were displaced, including 87 pregnant women, 58 older people, 18 people with disabilities and four unaccompanied or separated children. Many men stayed behind to try to protect their livelihoods, IOM said.

Most of the newly displaced families are staying with host communities, putting further strain on households and services that were already struggling. Food is the most urgent need, reported by 88 per cent of those assessed, followed by shelter at 71 per cent and healthcare at 44 per cent. IOM chief of mission in Mozambique Dana Graber Ladek warned that without timely support, life could get much harder for displaced families and the people hosting them.

As of October 2026, Cabo Delgado hosts more than 205,000 displaced people across 84 sites, more than half of them children. The province has faced an armed insurgency since 2017, when militants linked to Islamic State began attacking villages, security forces and infrastructure. The conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands, drawing in military interventions by Mozambique, Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community. A November update from the Mozambique Conflict Monitor reported at least 19 people killed in attacks on villages straddling the Mueda-Muidumbe border between 21 and 31 October.