Families split by attack reunite in Mozambique

One week after the vicious attack in the town of Palma in northern Mozambique, some families are finally finding some comfort in the arms of their loved ones, while others continue to despair without any news.

There were scenes of happiness and desperation outside Pemba port on Thursday, as another ship with one thousand displaced arrived in the capital of Cabo Delgado province.

About 200 rebels armed with automatic rifles, machine guns, and mortars are still in control of the part of Palma where government offices and banks are located, according to local media reports.

Thousands of residents already have fled to nearby Tanzania and south to the provincial capital of Pemba, according to international aid agencies.

More than 900,000 people in Mozambique now require food aid because of the crisis in the northern part of the country, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

Palma's streets are deserted except for sporadic gunfire from the rebels, said Lionel Dyck, director of the Dyck Advisory Group, whose helicopter gunships are helping the Mozambican police battle the insurgents.

The insurgents, who are allied to the Islamic State group, also attacked a site on the Indian Ocean coast near Macomia last week, showing their reach across Cabo Delgado province, according to local media reports.

The three-year insurgency of the rebels, who are primarily disaffected young Muslim men, has taken more than 2,600 lives and displaced an estimated 670,000 people, according to the U.N.

The rebels are known locally as al-Shabab (the youth in Arabic) but have no known affiliation with the jihadist rebels of the same name in Somalia. The United States last week declared Mozambique's rebels to be a terrorist organization and announced that 12 military trainers had been deployed to help the southern African country's marines.

Portugal, Mozambique's former colonial power, announced Tuesday that is stepping up its military cooperation by sending 60 soldiers to help train Mozambican special forces.

The European Union is also preparing "to increase security cooperation (with Mozambique), possibly via support with equipment or training," Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said in a statement.

The France-based oil and gas company has pulled out of its operations on the outskirts of Palma, a multi-billion-dollar investment to pump liquefied natural gas from offshore oilfields in the Indian Ocean.

Earlier this year the company had said it requires an area covering a 25-kilometer (15-mile) radius to be secure from rebel violence. Palma is within that area, making it uncertain when the oil giant will resume its investment.