Mozambique mobs kill three Red Cross workers in cholera mix-up

Mar 6, 2009, 12:34 GMT

Maputo - The Mozambique Red Cross said Friday that it was suspending its relief work in a crisis-hit northern district after three volunteers were killed by mobs accusing them of deliberately infecting water sources with the agent that causes cholera.

Two policemen that were trying to protect the aid workers were also reportedly killed in the attacks in Mongincual district, in the northern province of Nampula.

Nearly 100 people have died in a cholera outbreak in the former Portugese colony since October. Nampula province has recorded more than 20 deaths.

The attacks in Mongincual began when a rumour spread that the Red Cross and local authorities were infecting wells and fountains with cholera. They were, in fact, disinfecting the water with chlorine.

The rumour appeared to have been started by people mixing up cholera and chorine. The Portuguese word for chlorine is cloro.

Speaking to reporters in Maputo Teixeira said the attacks on Red Cross volunteers began on February 26 and that at least three volunteers had been killed.

'Given the situation we were forced to interrupt our operations in that district,' she said.

The attack on the policemen took place earlier this week in the same district. Two injured policemen told Mozambican media that two of their colleagues were killed when a group of five policemen intervened to try to halt the attacks on the aid workers.

The Red Cross said the violence was continuing and that most of the Red Cross volunteers had been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in the local administration building.

Apart from suffering several cholera deaths people in Mongincual are also experiencing severe hunger after being forced to flee their homes to higher ground during seasonal flooding.

Food is scarce in the relocation camps. Some people have taken to eating venomous plants that cause diarrhoea and other diseases. The Red Cross is one of the agencies involved in feeding the flood victims.