A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, as the full scale of devastation from Cyclone Idai becomes clear. The World Meteorological Organization [10] says Idai, which made landfall [11] March 14, could become [12] the worst tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi fears that 1,000 people may have lost their lives in his country alone [13]. The UN World Food Program calls [14] the aftermath of the storm "a major humanitarian emergency that is getting bigger by the hour." And, as after similar "mega-storms [15]" of recent years, the link to global climate destabilization is evident. "Cyclone Idai is a clear demonstration of the exposure and vulnerability of many low-lying cities and towns to sea-level rise as the impact of climate change continues to influence and disrupt normal weather patterns," said [16] Mami Mizutori, the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction. (Grist [17])
Severe drought in recent years had already been exacerbating social conflcit in Mozambique. Amnesty International [18] last June called on Mozambican authorities to take immediate steps to end a "killing spree" in Cabo Delgado province in the northeast. Amnesty said that over the past weeks, scores had been killed by a group known as al-Shabab, although apparently unrelated to the Somalian armed group of the same name. The group's ideology was said to be "unknown," pointing to a likely agrarian conflict pitting peasants against each other. (Jurist [8], Africa Times [19], UNDP [20])
