Item No. 01/01/05 - Mz

Mozambique - Crime - Journalism
Carlos Cardoso, the late editor of the Mozambican independent newsheet "Metical", is among the list of 24 journalists killed in 2000 while exercising their journalistic duty. According to a press release from the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) distributed in New York, at least "six were assassinated in countries where the assassins know that they can kill journalist. However, fewer journalists were killed in 2000 as compared with the previous year, when 34 lost their lives - 10 in Sierra Leonne. "Most weren't victims of stray bullets", said Ann Cooper, CPJ Director, adding that "they were deliberately shot at and eliminated because of their work". Cardoso was shot dead on 22 November in a Maputo street by two men who are still at large. He had just left the offices of "Metical".
From: Cardoso on CPJ list of murdered / Metical / 5 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/05 - Mz

Mozambique - Agriculture And Rural Development
Mozambican Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Helder Muteia has said that the country needs to improve its cereal production. Speaking to journalists at the end of his visit to Catembe, across the Maputo Bay, Muteia said that his ministry priority is "to continue improving the global production of cereal", about 1.7 million tonnes. The ministry should also place a special attention to commercial agriculture as a key to attain the aims. But it should not ignore the household sector, he said. The ministry's challenges are to guarantee access to technologies through investigation, access to credit, to land and to markets. Muteia also said that because agriculture in Mozambique depends heavily on irrigation, it was fundamental to rehabilitate the irrigation schemes.
From: Mozambique needs to boost cereal production / Savana / 2 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/06 - Mz

Mozambique - Natural Disasters - Flood
Flood threats continued to mount in the western Mozambican province of Tete, as the Zambezi River swelled and burst its banks, swamping some crops in some of the province's district. The rise of the water levels on the Zambezi arises from heavy rains upstream in neighbouring Zambia, which has prompted the local authorities to open the Kariba dam floodgates. National Disaster Management Institute (INGC) delegate in Tete, Jose Silvestre, said that crops were destroyed in the district headquarters of Zumbo and Bawa, in the Magoe district and in the administrative post of Chintopo. Silvestre said, however, the province is already prepared to face any possible natural disaster during the rainy season. He could not say how much land has been inundated.
From: Flood threats in Tete / Noticias / 7 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/07 - Mz

Mozambique - International Cooperation - Communications
The British and French governments have agreed to finance the rehabilitation works of stretches of the main north south Mozambican highway. According to the Public Works and Housing Ministry source, the two governments are to pledge an unspecified amount intended for the rehabilitation of a stretch of the road in the low-in the southern Gaza province, and 3rd February village in the Maputo province. The agreement is in line with the Mozambican government's partnership strategy for the "definite" rehabilitation of the highway, which was severely damaged during the February and March 2000 floods.
From: British and French government finance road rehabilitation / AIM / 7 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/08 - Mz

Mozambique - Crime - Human Head
One more severed human head has been found in a Maputo suburb. The human head was discovered on a dirt road in Maxaquene, and the victim's body was found about 500 metres away from his residence, in Bobole - some 37 km north of Maputo. The victim has been identified as Juvencio Dias Cuna, aged 29. According to the police, the murderers also gouged out parts of the brain, cut off the tongue, the left eye and an ear. The criminals are still at large, and the police are still trying to find out why Cuna was killed. From: One more severed human head in Maputo / Noticias / 8 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/08 - Mz

Mozambique - Economic Policies - Energy
The Mozambican government has stepped its efforts to acquire the majority of shares in the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric dam (HCB), currently in the hands of the Portuguese State, according to Mineral Resources, Castigo Langa. Portugal holds 81.66 percent of the shares, and Mozambique holds the remainder of the shares. He said that the two countries are now engaged in technical discussions, to seek agreements in three main areas, namely the company shareholding structure, the resche to Portugal, and the definition of a new method power supply from the dam. Speaking during a swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed senior officers in his ministry, Langa said, "because of the deadlock in the search for solutions to the HCB problems, we have decided to base our discussions on between Portugal and the then Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo)". The agreement established that the company should revert to Mozambique. "We decided to start bilateral discussions with Portugal, based on this same agreement, to see how we can implement what is established in that agreement. Langa further stressed that "this is not a decision taken now. This is in the agreement, and also in the philosophical basis of this type of power concessions. By an large, this type of undertaking reverts to the state after how it is in Mozambique, and it's the same in every country". From: HCB should revert to Mozambican state, insists Minister / AIM / 8 January 2001

Item. No. 01/01/08 - Mz
Mozambique - Peace Process - United Nations Missions
Mozambique has military crack units ready to be involved in United Nations peace maintenance missions should the need arise, according to a senior military source. The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Mozambique's Armed Defence Force (FADM), Gen. Mateus Ngonhamo, told Radio Mozambique that prove of such readiness is the fact that the country has men in East Timor integrated in a UN peace mission. "We expect that the UN requests us to sent men for other missions", he said, speaking in the programme the "Soldier's Hour", adding, "we've in the countries units already prepared for the effect". "We're creating conditions that require the involvement of the FADM in national reconstruction activities", he said, stressing that "in time of peace, the FADM must also dedicate their activities in the rebuilding and economy country". From: Mozambique with crack unit for UN Peace Missions / AIM / 8 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/09 - Mz
Mozambique - Agriculture And Rural Development - Investments
Over 150 Zimbabwean farmers are to be settled in the districts of Barue and Macossa, in the Mozambican central province of Manica, where they are expected to plough back over a US$100 million in agricultural activities. The money to be invested during the first stage will be used to farm cash crops in an area of about 440,000 hectares. Manica Agriculture and Rural Development provincial director Jose da Graca allayed fears that the Zimbabwean farmers would expropriate land from the local communities. And to ensure the transparency of the process, a meeting between the farmers and the local peasants, community leaders and the district administrators of Catandica and Barue held in the provincial capital city. The meeting clarified how land will be distributed to the farmers, and explain the pros and cons of the project. Barue and Macossa are districts with the greatest potential for the production of grain and cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, sunflower and others, in Manica. The farmers are also expected to set up processing industries. From: Zimbabwean farmers to be settled in Manica / AIM / 9 January 2001

Item No.01/01/10 - Mz
Mozambique - Investments - Tourism
The Mozambican government has estimated that tourism turned in US$30 million to the state in 2000, and that about 250,000 tourists might have visited the country in the same period. Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana, said that both figures are preliminary. "In relation to the number of tourists we still don't have the statistics, since we've just closed the year and the National Statistics Institute (INE) hasn't corrected its data, but our forecasts are that, despite the flood and cyclone, we received around 250,000 tourists", he said. Sumbana added, "it's difficult to know the volume of revenue collected before the (tourism) companies closed their accounts, but in the previous years we collected between 35 and 40 million US dollars". November and December had seen a great influx of tourists, which made him optimistic that "we might have reached about US$30 million". Sumbana also said that the state is currently carrying out an educational programme directed towards tourism. From: Government rakes in 30 million us dollars / Noticias / 10 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/10 - Mz
Mozambique - Regional Cooperation - Veterinary
Mozambican, South African and Swazi veterinary authorities met in the South African town of Nelspruit, to look into the current stage of the foot-and-mouth disease in each country. Mozambique placed a ban on meat products from South Africa and Swaziland following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Kwazulu-Natal, in South Africa. The disease affects mainly ungulated animals - pigs, cattle, and sheep. Francisco Pinto of the Veterinary Department in Mozambique's Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry told Radio Mozambique that the three countries discussed the measures each took to curb the spread of the disease. One of the issues of the discussions is the origin of the disease, which has seen South Africa and Swaziland exchange accusations. Apart from banning meat from the two countries, the Mozambican authorities vaccinated the cattle living along the border with South Africa and Swaziland, in an extension of 80 km. From: Regional veterinary authorities meet in South Africa / AIM / 10 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/11 - Mz
Mozambique - Human Resources - Investments
A labour dispute at the MOZAL aluminium smelter on the outskirts of Maputo is to be solved through compulsory arbitration. The dispute is between the MOZAL management and a group of Mozambican workers claiming that the company's employment practice discriminates in favour of foreign workers. They allege that they are receiving lower wages than foreigners doing the same work, and are calling for equal pay for equal work. When the smelter was inaugurated last September, the MOZAL human resources manager Colyn Louw, said that when fully operational the smelter would employ 743 people, 88 percent of them Mozambicans. But all of the 12 MOZAL managers are foreigners, and only 30 percent of the 32 supervisors are Mozambican. At the time, Louw insisted that part of the MOZAL strategy is to develop a skilled Mozambican labour force, but the start of operations required people who already had relevant experience in the aluminium industry. The arbitration team consists of three people - one chosen by the workers, Alice Mabota, one by the management , lawyer Jose Manuel Caldeira, and one by the Labour Ministry, a former Labour Minister, Teodato Hunguana. From: Arbitration at MOZAL / AIM / 11 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/12 - Mz
Mozambique - Political Parties - National Unit
The head of the parliamentary group of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party, Armando Guebuza, has strongly criticised opposition parties, particularly the former rebel movement Renamo, for what he described as "attitudes to divide Mozambicans and promote tribalism". Addressing rallies in the districts of Cheringoma, Marromeu and Muanza, in the central province of Sofala, Guebuza urged people to stick to the unity, welfare and development ideals of the founder and first president of Frelimo, Eduardo Mondlane. He also thanked the local residents for the "good behaviour and tolerance" they had shown during the violent demonstrations organised by Renamo in early November. Guebuza said that these demonstrations "aimed to attack the police and police stations and steal weapons and destroy institutions. But people remained calm and this attitude is to be praised". Sofala is the province where Renamo is at its strongest (it holds 17 of Sofala's 21 parliamentary seats, as against only four for Frelimo). In particular, Muanza and Cheringoma are regarded as Renamo strongholds, since they were under Renamo military occupation for much of the war of destabilisation. From: Frelimo leader attacks divisiveness and tribalism / AIM / 12 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/12 - Mz
Mozambique - Agriculture And Rural Development - Medal
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) honoured Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano with its "Agriculture Medal", granted for his involvement in the struggle against poverty. Handing Chissano the medal at a ceremony in Maputo, FAO General Director Jacques Diouf said that the gesture represents the organisation's recognition of Chissano's efforts for the maintenance of "stability, reconstruction and economic progress" of the country. The medal bore an engraving of Chissano and the words "Let us join hands in order to defeat hunger, malnutrition and poverty". "Despite the natural disasters that devastated the country at the beginning of last year, food production in Mozambique registered growth", claimed Diouf. He added that 10 years ago Mozambique was a country heavily dependent on food aid, but "today the rural population no longer needs food aid, but needs assistance to increase its food production". For his part, Chissano dedicated the medal to the country's farmers, and to peasant women in particular "who are, after all, the main actors in agricultural production". From: Agriculture medal for Chissano / AIM / 12 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/15 - Mz
Mozambique - Democracy - Peace
Raul Domingos, the expelled former head of the parliamentary group of Mozambique's main opposition party Renamo, has insisted that the political institute he has set up is not an embryonic party, but a non-partisan body "to study matters of national interest". Domingos announced the creation of the "Democratic Institute for Peace and Development" (IPADE) in December. In an interview with the daily paper "Noticias" he claimed that IPADE would be "a space for dialogue, where one can discuss themes of national interest, and where the culture of peace, dialogue and national reconciliation can be furthered". IPADE, he added, would seek to identify "what is really the national interest, because today the national interest reflects nothing more and nothing less than the interest of the ruling party. What the ruling party thinks should be the country's priority is regarded as the national interest. What others think doesn't count. We want to try to change this". Domingos said that, after his expulsion from Renamo in September, he had wanted to continue political activity "in an institutional way". He had turned down as "premature" the idea of setting up yet another political party, to add to the 25 or so that already exist in Mozambique, and opted for an institute "that will allow broad partnerships for launching various kinds of projects given the human potential that Mozambique has". From: Raul Domingos speaks of his new institute / AIM / 15 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/17 - Mz
Mozambique - Communications - Investment
The Maputo tollgate on the new motorway between the Mozambican capital and the South African town of Witbank opened without any of the disruption earlier threatened by transport operators and local residents. The tollgate is between Maputo and Matola, and so catches not only traffic intending to use the road all the way to South Africa, but also the commuter traffic between the two cities. The tollgate opened an hour earlier than expected, at 11.00 rather than midday - which may be one reason why the threatened demonstrations did not materialise. The tollgate has ten entrances. They operate electro-nically, identifying the type of vehicle and calculating the price, which can be paid in cash or by card. The tolls rise according to the weight of the vehicle: the heaviest trucks pay 75,000 meticais to cross the tollgate. There are a total of five tollgates on the Maputo-Witbank motorway, three in South Africa, and two in Mozambique - the second Mozambican gate is at Moamba, about 60 km Northwest of Maputo, and has been open for several months. From: Maputo tollgate opens / AIM / 17 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/18 - Mz
Mozambique - Government - Peace
Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo, met in Maputo for over five hours but could agree on little except to set up five working groups to "continue the dialogue". Speaking at a joint press conference both men described the talking as "tough". Renamo had hardened its position since the Chissano/Dhlakama meeting of 20 December, which was the first time the two men had held face to face talks since the 1999 general elections. In December, Chissano and Dhlakama had agreed that the president would "consult" Renamo about future local government appointments, including provincial governors. Another demand suddenly revived by Dhlakama at the meeting was that early general elections should be held. The sole specific result of the meeting was the establishment of five working groups, on defence and security matters, on legal, constitutional and parliamentary matters, on the public administration, on the mass media, and on the fate of those arrested following the Renamo demonstrations of 9 November. Chissano said the government teams on the first three groups would be headed by Defence Minister Tobias Dai, Justice Minister Jose Abudo, and State Administration Minister Jose Chichava. The composition of the final two groups has not yet been decided. The working groups will not start operating until 19 February, and should report to the two leaders in mid-March. From: Little progress at Chissano/Dhlakama meeting / AIM / 18 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/18 - Mz
Mozambique - International Cooperation - Kabila's Death
Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said that he regretted the death of his Congolese counterpart, Laurent Kabila, in an apparent assassination. At a press conference, after a lengthy meeting between Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama, one reporter took the opportunity to ask Chissano, for his reaction to the murder of Kabila. "I regret this death", Chissano replied. "I don't condone this. I don't know what the consequences will be". "We were working with Kabila to find a solution to the Congolese war", he added. "I don't think the Congolese themselves know how they will go ahead now". He compared the Congolese situation with the negotiations between the Mozambican government and Renamo held in Rome between 1990 and 1992, and said that had either of the key figures died then, matters would have been very complicated. "If I had died during the Rome negotiations, things would have been very difficult. And vice versa", he said. From: Chissano "regrets" kabila's death / AIM / 18 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/20 - Mz
Mozambique - Unemployed - Human Resources
About 6,000 workers in Mozambique's cashew processing industry lost their jobs in 2000, according to the general secretary of the Cashew Workers Union (SINTIC), Boaventura Mondlane. This brings to 8,500 the number of workers who have definitively lost their jobs since the crisis in the cashew sector began to bite in 1997. In other words, the great majority of workers in this industry are now unemployed. "We have just ended a dark year for the cashew sector", said Mondlane. Prospects for the future looked no better - he said there was no money available to reopen factories that have closed because of the liberalisation of the trade in cashews imposed on Mozambique by the World Bank. The result of liberalisation, which we are now witnessing, is a fall in the marketing price", said Mondlane. "The producers are earning less and less, contrary to the arguments of the World Bank and the government. Now that the industry has been put out of action, prices are tumbling". From: Most cashew workers now unemployed / AIM / 20 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/22 - Mz
Mozambique - Crime - Launch Appeal
Prominent foreign writers, headed by Nobel literature laureate Gunter Grass demanded to know who killed Carlos Cardoso. An appeal from the writers, published in the main Mozambican newspapers, described the murder as "not just any assassination. It was a political assassination ordered by people who were afraid of Carlos Cardoso's pen". The writers declared that Cardoso was a figure of international importance whose work "made accessible important information on matters that were decisive for the politics and economy of Mozambique". In addition to Gunter Grass, the 14 signatories to the appeal also include Noam Chomsky and Susan Faludi of the United States, John Pilger of Britain, Jan Myrdal and Henning Mankel of Sweden, Erik Hansen and Jon Michelet of Norway, and Leif Davidesn and Pehr Ohrgaard of Denmark. From: Cardoso murder: foreign writers launch appeal / Noticias / 22 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/23 - Mz
Mozambique - Tourism - Investments
Tourism operators in Xai-Xai, capital of the southern Mozambican province of Gaza, complain of a drastic decline in business this summer. These businesses had hoped that a surge in tourism would compensate for the losses they incurred during the floods of February 2000. But instead the entry en masse of tourists from South Africa over the christmas and new year period simply did not happen. It was "a terrible season" said one of the operators: the number of tourists fell to 30 percent of their normal levels. "This was a year of pay, pay and always pay", complained one of the paper's sources. Not only were there fewer tourists than usual, but those that did come purchased very little locally, preferring to bring everything they needed with them - including drinks, meat, and even fuel. To some extent this is because many South Africans still believe it is impossible to buy anything in Mozambique. But there is also a price factor at work: many goods happen to be more expensive in Mozambique than in South Africa, particularly at tourist resorts. The tourist operators also allege that Mozambique's notoriously corrupt traffic police also contribute to keeping tourists away. From: Bad year for Tourism in Gaza / AIM / 23 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/24 - Mz
Mozambique - Investments - Regional Cooperation
The Mozambican government publicised the "Libombos Spatial Development Initiative" (IDEL) at a Maputo conference bringing together potential local and foreign investors. IDEL covers adjoining areas of Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland, and was launched by the three heads of state at a meeting in the South African city of Durban in 1998. According to Tourism Minister Fernando Sumbana, "the IDEL development strategy has been designed in order to promote coordinated private and state investment so as to turn this area into an integrated economic zone of new vibrant industries, particularly in tourism and agriculture". Sumbana said the main objectives guiding IDEL are: transforming the Libombos area into a single zone that would be attractive for investment, promoting synergies between the three countries in investment projects, and ensuring coordination between the three to ensure that benefits to one country do not lead to losses in another. From: Conference on Libombos development initiative / AIM / 24 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/25 - Mz
Mozambique - Media - Gender
The Association of Women in the Mass Media (AMCS) launched a new community radio in Maputo that will seek to deal specifically with issues important to Mozambican women. The new radio station, named "N'tyana", broadcasts both in the official language, Portuguese, and in Shangana, the African language most widely spoken in Maputo. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Julieta Langa, chairperson of the Supreme Mass Media Council, said the new radio would deal with such matters as education, the new family law currently under nation-wide debate, domestic violence, and health, particularly the spread of the lethal disease AIDS. The AMCS coordinator, Delfina Mugabe, urged the community to collaborate with the station, by sending in suggestions on matters they would like to hear discussed on the radio. The costs of installing the radio were US$20.00. Nine people have been trained to work on it, and initially it will broadcast 13 hours a day. Radio N'tyana is broadcasting on FM on the 93.5 MHz frequency. From: Women's radio launched / Noticias / 25 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/27 - Mz
Mozambique - Investments - Agriculture
The MOZAL aluminium smelter at Beluluane some 17 kilometres outside Maputo unveiled the Beluluane Agricultural Centre. The centre is a project of the MOZAL Development Foundation, the humanitarian wing of MOZAL, set up to sponsor projects that will benefit nearby communities. The new centre seeks to promote agricultural development in the Beluluane region. In the first place its aims to improve productivity on the land of those farmers who had to be resettled when the smelter was built. The project, inaugurated by Maputo Provincial Governor Alfredo Namitete, includes the establishment of a farmers' association, the construction of a warehouse, the development of agricultural techniques, the supply of seeds, and marketing the surplus crops produced by the farmers. From: MOZAL inaugurates agricultural centre / AIM / 27 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/27 - Mz
Mozambique - Political Parties - Government
Manuel Tome, general secretary of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party, has warned that the former rebel movement Renamo wants to share power with Frelimo "at any price", without respecting the most elementary norms for achieving power in a democratic country. Speaking to reporters in the central city of Beira, Tome said that the recent declarations by Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, following his meeting with President Joaquim Chissano on 17 January, showed that there was an enormous "democratic deficit" within Renamo. Dhlakama demanded the appointment of governors named by Renamo for the six provinces where his party won a majority of the vote in the 1999 general election. Failing that, he wanted early general elections. Speaking at a press conference, Dhlakama compared Chissano to the hijacker of an aircraft, and claimed that "over 75 percent" of the population does not recognise Chissano as President. "The Renamo leader's declarations seek to distract us, to divert our attentions from national reconstruction, and particularly from the struggle against absolute poverty", said Tome. "What Dhlakama wants from this sensationalism is just to confuse national and international public opinion, presenting Renamo as a victim of injustice, when in reality it is the victim of its own leader". From: Renamo "wants power at any price" / Noticias / 27 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/28 - Mz
Mozambique - Hero
Sebastiao Marcos Mabote, one of the heroes of Mozambique's war for independence from Portuguese rule, died in a tragic accident. Mateus Katupha, spokesperson for the standing commission of the Mozambican parliament, confirmed Mabote's death to Radio Mozambique. He drowned in an accident on Bilene lagoon, in the southern province of Gaza. Mabote was one of the top commanders of the Frelimo guerrilla army during the national liberation war. In the closing years of the war he was Frelimo's chief of operations. After independence in 1975, he became deputy defence minister, and chief of staff of the Mozambican Armed Forces. When ranks were introduced into the army, Mabote was promoted to Colonel-General. Absurd though this claim was, Mabote was arrested in June 1991, and went on trial before the Supreme Court in August 1992 accused of conspiring to overthrow the government. After a three-week trial, the Supreme Court acquitted Mabote, who claimed that "right-wing opportunists" in the armed forces had tried to destroy him. He retired from the armed forces during the 1994 demobilisation. In the general elections of that year, he was elected a Frelimo deputy from his home province of Gaza, and was re-elected in 1999. Mabote was also head of the Frelimo Defence and Security Department. From: Hero of liberation war dies / AIM / 28 January 2001

Item No. 01/01/31 - Mz
Mozambique - Natural Disasters - Floods
The government of the central Mozambican province of Zambezia launched an emergency appeal for over 2,000 tonnes of food aid for the victims of flooding caused by torrential rains. The government estimates that over 253,000 people have been "directly affected" by the disaster. About 23,000 have been displaced from their homes, and are currently living in government-run accommodation centres. It calculates that over the next six months, the province will require 2,031 tonnes of food aid (maize, rice, beans and vegetable oil). Many of the households affected have lost their crops, and will need to replant in the second sowings. Jorge Samuel, coordinator of the Zambezia forum of NGOs stressed that in addition to food aid, the victims would require agricultural inputs - at least 174,800 agricultural handtools are thought necessary. Roads have been cut in much of coastal Zambezia: as a result the small towns of Macuse, Luabo, Chire, and Nante are cut off, and food aid will have to be airlifted to these places. Emergency aid for the victims of the Zambezia floods will be channelled through the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), the Mozambican Red Cross, and the Municipal Council in Quelimane, the provincial capital. From: Zambezia government launches emergency appeal / AIM / 31 January 2001