International donors have pledged $US1.2 billion towards the rebuilding of Mozambique in the wake of two destructive cyclones earlier this year, the UN said Sunday.
The announcement followed a two day conference involving some 700 people representing international organisations, donors, the private sector and civil society in the port city of Beira – one of the worst affected areas when the first cyclone struck. Hundreds were killed and some two million people affected when Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kenneth struck parts of the country in March and April.
Noura Hamladji, who representing the United Nations Development Programme at the conference, said it was important that the recovery was resilient.
“Mozambique is prone to climate change disasters, and those cyclones were not a one-time event – unfortunately – and the probability of these disasters reoccurring, many times in the future, is very high,” Hamladji said, adding that as a result there was a need to “build back better”.
The amount pledged was reportedly half of the $3.2 billion needed for post-cyclone reconstruction in the country.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his thanks for those who contributed “to alleviate the suffering of the people who have been deprived of their goods, houses, infrastructure and livelihoods”.
But he called for further generosity from the international community, saying it was “the moment to translate into concrete gestures our solidarity with a country affected by one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in African history – and which also warns us about the urgency of tackling climate change.”
