“The lives of thousands of people have stopped. They need everything, but above all they need it and with an urgent need for peace ”.
This appeal came, calmly, to Plataforma’s newsroom through the voice of Abdul Rashid Ismail, leader of the Islamic Community of Mozambique (CIMO). The serenity of the words contrasts with the urgency of the appeal addressed to the World.
According to what he told us, there are thousands of people who are, in the extreme north of Mozambique, in search of a single objective: “try to find a safe place to live”.
But does the world understand this concept of “a safe place to live” clearly?
A safe place to live does not mean the same thing for those who live in Europe and, in this case, in the Cabo Delgado region.
For those on the northern side of the hemisphere, a safe place means having piped water, an air-conditioned house, not being afraid of being robbed when you go out, having a school for your children and good access to roads and public transport.
Unfortunately, the Cabo Delgado region is not unique,
neither in Africa nor in the world
For those on the southern side of the hemisphere, a safe place to live means having four walls, a plot of land where you can plant minimal goods for subsistence, not being afraid of dying from a stray bullet, sleeping peacefully without fear that a man with a gun in his hand slaughter the whole family.
Unfortunately, the Cabo Delgado region is not unique, neither in Africa nor in the world. War displaced persons – “homeless”, as the CIMO leader called him, perhaps in an attempt to better understand the urgency of the West – do not want to leave their lands on a whim. They leave their lands because they are afraid to die. The most basic fear of the human being.
We are genetically prepared to prevent death. And there are still those who do not understand why there are thousands of people who face death every day to reach Europe. Rather to die from a predictable death than from a certain death.
*Publisher of the Portuguese edition of Plataforma
