Second Deadly Cyclone Hits Mozambique

international | miscellaneous | press release Friday April 26, 2019 21:58 by Kate Zeller - Jubilee USA Network

Religious Development Group Calls for Debt and Disaster Relief

Category-4 Cyclone Kenneth hit Mozambique Thursday night, the second severe storm to hit the country in six weeks.

Category-4 Cyclone Kenneth hit Mozambique Thursday night, the second severe storm to hit the country in six weeks. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 30,000 people were evacuated because of Cyclone Kenneth and another 70,000 people are still in harm's way. The hurricane-strength storm is predicted to drop twice as much rainfall as Cyclone Idai, which devastated the East African nation in March. Mozambique is still recovering from Cyclone Idai and the International Monetary Fund loaned $118.2 million for Idai rebuilding efforts.

"It's time to move away from loans for Mozambique and start the process of debt relief," said United Nations debt expert Eric LeCompte who heads the religious development group Jubilee USA. "This cyclone was the first major storm to hit Mozambique with hurricane strength in 60 years and as one of the poorest countries in the world, they don't have the resources to respond."

The United Nations Development Programme ranks Mozambique as the 9th least developed country in the world out of 189 ranked countries. On March 14th and 15th Cyclone Idai made landfall, killing over 700 people and causing an estimated $2 billion in damage.

In 2016 the IMF stopped financing Mozambique after over $1 billion in secret loans were discovered to outfit fishing boats into military crafts.

"Debt relief is an effective form of disaster aid and must be an important part of Mozambique's recovery," said LeCompte.