By Charles Mangwiro

MAPUTO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Mozambique said on Sunday it would forcibly evacuate 10,000 people who have defied government calls to leave areas at risk of flooding along the Zambezi valley in the country's central regions.

The deputy director of Mozambique's National Institute for Disaster Management (INGC), Joao Ribeiro, told Reuters that some families in Mopeia in Zambezia province, Mutarara in the northern Tete province, and Machanga in Sofala province had refused to abandon their flooded homes.

"They want to look after their livestock and property and our mission is to remove everybody from any flooded area or those (areas) at risk. The INGC wants to see zero people living in zones of risk", he said.

Floods have destroyed homes, livestock and crops in Mozambique and put pressure on aid agencies to provide shelter, sanitation and water to flood victims. The floods have also heightened fears of cholera and malaria.

Early this month, the government declared a red alert and said it was preparing to evacuate more than 200,000 people under threat from rising waters.

So far the government says 92,000 people have been rescued while the death toll has risen to 18.

"The peak of the rainy season is just two weeks ahead and this is not the time to raise awareness. We will forcibly remove anyone in those areas we declared risky," Ribeiro said.

"Men risk their lives in order to save goats and chickens along the Zambezi valley which they treasure as their wealth, but our mission is to save their lives," he said.

The United Nations has said that the current floods in Mozambique could be worse than those of 2000-2001, which caused the deaths of 700 people. (Editing by Muchena Zigomo and Giles Elgood)

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