U.N. chief begins visit to Mozambique to assess post-cyclone progress
CGTN
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The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Mozambique on Thursday for a two-day working visit.

During his visit to the southeast African country, the 70-year-old will assess the damage caused by the two tropical cyclones earlier this year.

Mozambique was hit by Cyclone Idai in March, killing over 600 people and destroying nearly 240,000 homes.

In total, the U.N. estimates that the two cyclones affected more than 2.25 million people.

As the country was still recovering from the effects of Idai, Cyclone Kenneth made landfall, causing more deaths and destruction.

The visiting U.N. chief will begin his visit by meeting President Filipe Nyusi, before receiving getting updated briefings from U.N. agencies in the field. He is also scheduled to visit some of the affected areas.

A donors’ conference held last month availed $1.2 billion in pledges, though the U.N. was hoping to raise $3.2 billion to facilitate the rebuilding and reconstruction of the affected areas.

At the time, the Guterres, who has been following the developments in Mozambique keenly, stated that “this is the moment to translate into concrete gestures our solidarity with a country affected by one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in African history.” For him, the disaster “also warns us about the urgency of tackling climate change.”

Prior to his Mozambique visit, the U.N. Secretary-General was in Kenya, where he attended a conference on counter-terrorism.

The U.N. estimates that the two cyclones affected more than 2.25 million people in Mozambique.

The U.N. estimates that the two cyclones affected more than 2.25 million people in Mozambique.