PRESIDENT TOURS CHINA IN SEARCH OF FUNDS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday continued with the second day of his tour of China.During his working visit to the country he will be trying to mobilise from the Chinese government, businesses and banks funds for the implementation of a hundred projects requiring ten billion US dollars in investment.According to a Mozambican government document seen by AIM, about half of this amount has already been promised. In some cases projects have already begun to be executed whilst in others discussions are at an advanced stage.In order to make as many contacts as possible, the President has taken the strategic decision to only stay in each city for a few hours.For example, shortly after his arrival yesterday in the capital city Beijing he met with his counterpart Xi Jinping after which he travelled to the city of Wuhan, provincial capital of Hubei province. This morning he met with Hubei governor Wang Guosheng before travelling to the city of Xiangyang where he visited rice production company Wanbao whose technicians are introducing new techniques in Mozambique’s Gaza province.On Wednesday President Guebuza will leave for the city of Shanghai, which will be the last destination in his tour.

Most of the loans to fund the proposed development projects will come from a twenty billion dollar fund set up by the Chinese government to support African countries through subsidised loans. The remaining amount will be secured from Chinese banks including the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) and the China Development Bank (CBD) at preferential interest rates.The Fund was launched during the fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Beijing in July 2012.Mozambican businesses are eligible to receive money from the Fund if they can prove to be viable and fall within the Fund’s criteria.An analysis of the Mozambican government’s document shows that at least seventy of the projects are public-private partnerships and will consume more than half the ten billion dollars sought.These types of loans have the advantage of not perpetuating the country’s debt. In return for the loans China will receive raw materials for its vibrant industry and the construction of its infrastructures.Currently, China has more than 900 multinationals working on infrastructure in Africa and elsewhere.Among the multinationals working in Mozambique is SOGECOA, who over the last few years has built various public buildings in Maputo including the Joaquim Chissano Conference Centre, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maputo International Airport, the new headquarters of the Attorney General and the Palace of Justice.

For President Guebuza, these constructions are an intrinsic part of Chinese support to the Mozambican people, which began when China sent military experts to the military base at Nachingwea in Tanzania of the liberation movement Frelimo who was fighting against Portuguese colonialism.Speaking on Monday during an audience with the Chinese President, Guebuza said that China “helped us at a time when neither country had much, when we still had the struggle for our independence. The military experts sent to us went through the same difficulties and hardships that we faced, including shortages of drinking water”.

Inspired by the old Chinese proverbs “if you want to be rich you must first build roads” and “if you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people”, the majority of projects involve the construction or rehabilitation of roads, bridges, schools and professional training centres.Thus, the financing partially secured during previous visits to China by President Guebuza and government ministers is mainly for road construction including the Maputo ring road (costing 300 million dollars), the road linking the city of Beira to Machipanda (budgeted at 427 million dollars), the road from Bene to Zumbo (278 million dollars), from Inchope to Caia (196 million dollars), from Cuamba to Marrupa (184 million dollars), from Moamba to Manjacaze (180 million dollars), between Fudzi and Nhamapaza (139 million dollars), from Chimuara to Namacurra (120 million dollars), and the road linking Macossa to the main north-south highway – the EN1 (118 million).The educational sector will acquire 300 million dollars for the construction of schools and institutions. Of this amount, 200 million dollars will be invested in the construction of seven polytechnics in the provinces of Maputo, Inhambane, Sofala, Zambezia, Niassa and Cabo Delgado.The government will also invest 34 million dollars in the construction of three technical professional schools, namely the agrarian institute in Namaacha in Maputo province, and two industrial institutes in Nampula and Niassa province.The remaining funds will be spent on projects such as the rehabilitation of Nacala port and the building of the railway line between the port and the Moatize coal basin in Tete province.In addition to the ten billion dollars discussed above, Exim Bank is to finance the construction of a bridge linking Maputo city with the district of Katembe in a project valued at 725 million dollars.Meanwhile, the China Development Bank is looking at investing in the industrial zone in Nacala-a-Velha which has the potential to transform the north of Mozambique into the most developed region in the country and perhaps even in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

FRELIMO SUSPENDS ITS YOUTH OFFICIALS

Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party has suspended the entire executive secretariat of its youth wing, the OJM (Mozambican Youth Organisation).The Frelimo Central Committee Secretary for Social Organisations, Carlos Moreira Vasco, told reporters that the decision was taken by the party’s top leadership, its Political Commission, on Monday.Moreira Vasco gave no reasons for the measure, merely stating that the suspension arose from “internal matters in the life of the organization”.He added that, as soon as possible, the OJM Central Committee will meet to elect a new secretariat. He thought that some members of the suspended Secretariat might be re-elected. The secretariat that has now been dissolved was set up following the sixth national conference of the OJM, held in Ulongue in the western province of Tete. Then Basilio Muhate was elected general secretary with an overwhelming majority of votes – 200 against just 22 for the runner-up, Manuel Formiga.At the time, Muhate pledged to dedicate himself entirely to the cause of the OJM, to empower young people, to promote employment and self-employment, and to train young people at all levels so that they could become genuine development actors.Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax” claims that Muhate has been accused of “insubordination”. The particular episode cited was a disagreement between Muhate and Frelimo General Secretary Filipe Paunde over the performance of the Maputo City OJM leadership, headed by Alex Muianga.When Paunde undertook a tour of Maputo City in mid-March, he praised the work done by Muianga and his colleagues. Two weeks later, Muhate, had a very different assessment of the OJM city leadership – so negative did he find their work that he sacked Muianga. “Mediafax” suggests that this apparent challenge to Paunde’s authority angered the Frelimo leadership and led to the Monday suspensions.Tensions had, however, been simmering for some time. At the Frelimo Tenth Congress last September, members of the OJM appeared wearing berets apparently imitated from the headgear favoured by Julius Malema (fhoto), the disgraced leader of the youth wing of the South African ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). The OJM is said to have been severely censured for this attitude at a meeting held behind closed doors.

14 CASES OF KIDNAPPING IN 2012 – ATTORNEY-GENERAL

The Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office in 2012 registered a total of 14 cases of kidnapping followed by ransom demands,In his annual report to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, delivered on Wednesday, Attorney-General Augusto Paulino said that currently 21 people are under arrest in connection with these cases. Paulino attributed the kidnappings to organised crime. He noted that the criminals selected their victims carefully, in order to extract large sums of money through blackmailing and threatening the victims and their relatives. Associated with the kidnappings were transactions of large sums of money, either in cash, or through bank transfers to accounts in other countries. The ransoms demanded have been as large as eight million US dollars.Paulino announced that prosecutors and agents of the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) have been allocated to work exclusively on the kidnappings and ransoms. Paulino also expressed serious concern at the trafficking in people, particularly for purposes of extracting human body parts, often used for witchcraft. He said his office recorded 30 cases of human trafficking in 2012, compared with 24 the previous year. Charges have been laid in 15 cases, six of which have come to trial. In addition to the removal of human organs, the cases of trafficking also involved forced labour and prostitution and debt servitude. Paulino said that cooperation with neighbouring countries, notably South Africa, has been advantageous in locating and supporting the victims of trafficking, and tracking down the criminals. The number of cases of mob justice, in which crowds took the law into their own hands and lynched suspected criminals, declined from 20 in 2011 to 14 in 2012. Most of these cases had occurred in central Mozambique – six in Zambezia province and six in Sofala. Paulino described lynching as a form of “contempt for reason and for the dignity due to all human beings”. He said preventive measures have been taken to halt these practices “but their occurrence remains a matter of concern, particularly in the city of Beira”.Turning to crimes of corruption, Paulino warned that large sums of money had been repeatedly siphoned out of certain public institutions, with enormous losses to the Mozambican state, which had to mobilize additional resources to replace what had been stolen. Such thefts, he said, took the form of duplicating wage sheets, paying wages to employees who did not exist, paying allowances to people who were not entitled to them, or paying travel expenses for more days than the trip actually took.The current indication of the cost of these fraudulent practices in 2012 is that the state lost 62.9 million meticais (about 2.1 million US dollars), of which only 17.4 million meticais and two motor-cycles had so far been recovered.Measures taken to combat the theft of state funds, Paulino said, included boosting and expanding the electronic State Financial Administration System (e-SISTAFE), and strengthening the internal and external audits of public institutions.As for the clashes in early April in the small town of Muxungue, in Sofala, in which armed members of the former rebel movement Renamo, murdered four members of the riot police, Paulino said that nothing justifies such violence. Criminal cases are now underway against 14 people, one of whom is still hospitalized. All are believed to be members of Renamo.Paulino called for restraint on the part of all political actors so that they do not incite their followers to violence. The figures given by Paulino showed a decline of 3.3 per cent in the number of crimes registered by the police – there were 41,228 crimes recorded in 2011, and 39,861 cases recorded in 2012. The number of citizens detained in connection with these crimes, however, had risen – from 9.473 in 2011 to 13,912 in 2012. 108 firearms were seized, compared with only 83 in 2011. More than a third of all crimes took place in Maputo city (8,364 cases) and Maputo province (7,814).Paulino called on the Assembly to strengthen Mozambican legislation against poaching. He noted that while in South Africa poachers were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, in Mozambique they get away with fines regardless of how much elephant ivory or rhino horns they are caught with.The impact of poaching on Mozambican wild life is devastating. The latest reports indicate that every single rhinoceros in the Limpopo National Park in Gaza province has been killed. In the country’s largest conservation area, the Niassa Reserve, in the far north, around 2,500 elephants have been slaughtered over the past two years.

KENYA AIRWAYS TO ADD EXTRA FLIGHT TO MAPUTO

Kenya Airways has announced that in June it is adding an extra flight from Nairobi to Maputo to meet rising demand. This will bring to four the number of flights operated by the airline.The additional flight departs from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Monday mornings arriving in Maputo at 13.55. It will then depart from Maputo on the return leg at 14.45.According to Kenya Airways’ Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni “there is increasing demand for air travel in the continent which makes Africa the new growth frontier in the aviation industry. It is, therefore, important for us to continue to grow our presence across the continent to meet this demand”.This is the latest in a string of new airline services to Mozambique.On 6 May British Airways launched its maiden flight between Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport and Maputo. The service, operated by Comair, is daily with two flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays.In addition, Mozambique’s national airline LAM announced at the end of April that it was launching new routes flying directly between Nampula and Johannesburg, Nampula and Nairobi (via Pemba), Nampula and Dar es Salaam, and between Tete and Johannesburg.LAM is also now flying three times a week to the Angolan capital city Luanda.

Mozambique

The Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), David Lipton, on Monday ended an official visit to Mozambique during which he praised the country's economic and social progress made over the last twenty years.During the visit he met with Prime Minister Alberto Vaquina, Finance Minister Manuel Chang, and the governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Ernesto Gove. He also met with representatives of the private sector, development partners, and civil society.According to Lipton, “during our discussions, I commended the authorities’ sustained commitment to prudent economic policies. I also welcomed their intention to maintain public investment at high levels and reduce the cost the private sector faces in doing business. Their intentions to foster the social and human development objectives are also commendable in light of the big challenges faced”.He added, “I welcomed the efforts underway to prepare for the significant regulatory and macroeconomic challenges of managing natural resources, especially coal and gas”.He said that making growth more inclusive remains one of the key priorities over the medium to longer term. He argued that the government is right in emphasising public investment in infrastructure, strengthening human capital through health, education and job training, and facilitating private economic activities.He was also in agreement with the government’s desire to expand basic social protection for the poorest members of the population.On the issue of Mozambique’s immense natural resources, Lipton stated that “the IMF is supporting Mozambique in its quest to build a transparent and well-managed natural resource revenue management system”.

Together for tolerance!

During the demonstrations for the 1st May, World Day of the Worker, the Rapid Intervention Force was dispatched to prevent taxi drivers (riders) in the city of Quelimane to participate in the demonstration because they supported in the midterm election of December 2011 in candidate of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, MDM, Manuel de Araújo, who won so loose, the candidate the candidate of the ruling party. Also, the police stopped and arrested young MDM in Macia, who wished to express, in the meantime, the young of the ruling party, dresses Camisetes flags and loudly walked to his class. Simango says he is very angry at the persistently a government anti - popular and undemocratic that captured the state and the institutions that should be at the service of all Mozambicans. It is extremely shocking, what has been happening in the country on Labor Day because the government bailed up the Rapid Intervention Force, FIR, to prevent ordinary people from participating in a peaceful demonstration. Our Constitution provides that citizens have the right to freely expressed, however, it is systematically violated by the police and several holders of administrative institutions without anybody blame.

In our society, a large portion of our countrymen survive in the informal sector. Cyclists are legally associated Quelimane, do not need to ask permission to anyone to demonstrate. You can make the best expressions when they think. In Maputo, a citizen who survives by selling mobile credits marched unmolested.

Police act the way threatens stability and peace. Mozambican citizen does not live fearing the police. No one can live under constant threats from the police. We condemn this attitude of the police. Police did not have under the legal point of view, which prohibit cyclists from participating in the demonstration. They are taxi drivers that live in Quelimane and service they provide to the public as we here at Edge we licensed cabbies drive. In Quelimane for bicycle taxi drivers. Can not dismiss a taxi driver because driving a bike and not a car. All are professionals and as such, everyone has the right to demonstrate. The Constitution does not establish any form of discrimination on the matter. More condemn this attitude of the police, especially the way comes armed authenticates a demonstration of declared war against defenseless citizens.

What would have taken the FIR to act that way? It is because there is a boss who sends in the police. This boss is called Frelimo Party. Frelimo is above the Mozambican state and all public and private institutions. It is this arrogance that leads to strike the state. Can not punish. We have an Attorney General's Office that assists undaunted and serene the excesses of the Frelimo Party. There are constant violations of human rights and says nothing. What happened in Quelimane is equal to the passed in Macia, Gaza. Members of the Democratic Movement Movement were prevented by police from marching in celebration of Labor Day. A young man named Herminio Mahanuque, leader of our Youth League was kept in the prison police from 08 to 16 hours, so as to inhibit our youth to march as members of the Organization of Mozambican Youth (youth league of the ruling party since National Independence) manifested freely Camisetes dresses and carrying flags of their party. Holders of the scheme say this travesty of democracy and above all speak who want to preserve the peace. With the mouth of peace while in practice sent to arrest the opposition, withdraw and tear and burn our flags our headquarters. We are against this attitude of the police chase a defenseless citizen who intend to use their constitutional rights. We condemn the police and their clients when they make black life to peaceful citizens. The Interior Minister has to explain to Mozambicans the reasons FIR prevent free professional and peaceful to express themselves. Where is the political tolerance? - It's all a big lie. The problem that we live beyond the issue of political tolerance. When police attack defenseless citizens seeking to express their feelings, it goes beyond the issue of political tolerance. The matter is much more serious than one can imagine. We have an unruly and undemocratic country that uses every means at its disposal, including illegal methods, to perpetuate itself in power, even against the popular will, emphasizes Simango.(President of MDM)

CNE / ONP / FRELIMO / RENAMO / MDM

The head of Mozambique’s parliamentary commission on constitutional and legal matters, Teodoro Waty, pledged on Tuesday that his commission will be strictly guided by criteria of legality and respect for the constitution, when it analyses the nomination papers of the 15 candidates for the three seats reserved for civil society organizations on the National Elections Commission (CNE) – including the controversial attempt by the current CNE chairperson, Joao Leopoldo da Costa, to secure a second term on the electoral body. Waty was speaking to reporters after a parliamentary hearing in which the 15 candidates answered questions from deputies concerning the CNE, and the contribution each of them could make to the electoral body. Costa was among those quizzed – despite the fact that the body which allegedly proposed him, the National Teachers Union (ONP), has disowned his candidacy, accusing those who proposed Costa of forging ONP documents.The outgoing CNE contains five nominees from political parties (three from the ruling Frelimo Party and two from the former rebel movement Renamo), and eight from civil society. But the new electoral law, approved in December, skews the composition of the CNE in favour of political parties, largely in order to accommodate the second opposition force, the MDM (Mozambique Democratic Movement).There will now be eight CNE members appointed by the political parties (five by Frelimo, two by Renamo and one by the MDM), a judge appointed by the Higher Council of the Judicial Magistracy, an attorney appointed by the Higher Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and only three nominees from civil society. 24 Nominations from civil society bodies were sent to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, where an ad-hoc commission drew up a short list of 16, which will eventually be submitted to the Assembly plenary which must elect, by secret ballot, just three of them to sit on the CNE.A shadow has been cast over this whole procedure by the fraudulent attempt to gain a second term for Costa. The ONP document supposedly proposing Costa was signed by Safira Stefane Mahanjae, who was elected to the ONP National Secretariat from the southern province of Gaza.

But the ONP President, Beatriz Muhoro, told reporters last week that Mahanjae had no power to sign any correspondence at all in the name of the union. Mahanjae has indeed been elected to the Secretariat, but has not yet taken office.The old secretariat of the ONP was dissolved on 26 March – a week before the meeting at which the ONP is supposed to have decided in favour of supporting Costa’s candidacy. The ONP’s new secretariat and National Council have not yet been sworn into office. “Currently it is only the union’s Presidency that is taking decisions”, Muhoro insisted. The ONP statutes are clear on this – while the new secretariat has not taken office, all its powers are exercised by the Presidency. The ONP has set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the full circumstances in which the fraudulent documents supporting Costa’s CNE candidacy were drawn up. Naturally, during the Tuesday hearing deputies asked Costa about this. He claimed he had nothing to do with the polemic. Costa insisted that he had been invited to stand by the ONP, and had simply accepted the nomination.This would have been a good moment for Costa to defend his good name and withdraw his candidacy. Instead, he said it was not up to him to withdraw his name, but up to those who had proposed him.
Waty tried to smooth the problem over, claiming that everyone in the controversy believed they had acted in good faith. “From what we could hear from the parties involved”, he told the reporters, “it seems that the candidate Joao Leopoldo da Costa believed that he was being proposed by somebody with the legitimacy to do so. The national secretariat of the ONP seems also to have believe that it has the legitimacy to nominate him, while the President of the ONP thinks that only she should present a candidate at this level”. Waty added that Costa’s candidacy would remain “until we adopt our opinion. The opinion has not yet been produced, and once produced, it must be adopted. Before it is adopted there will be a debate in the commission, and I believe we shall be guided in our opinion by respect for legality and the constitution”.Meanwhile one of the genuine civil society candidates, Benilde Nhalivilo, has withdrawn her name in disgust. Nhalivilo, a women’s rights activist, was proposed by the most credible civil society coalition, the Electoral Observatory. The Observatory consists of the main religious denominations (catholic, protestant and moslem), and a number of prominent NGOs, including the Human Rights League.Her letters to the Assembly, and to the Electoral Observatory, withdrawing her name stated, in obvious reference to the scandal surrounding Costa, that the attempt to legitimate candidates “in a dubious and unclear manner” showed “that there is a strong trend to place pre-determined people on the CNE”. “I do not want to see my image and my dignity, acquired over 20 years dedicated to the cause of human rights and to genuine civil society, associated to situations of lack of transparency and non –professionalism”.“This decision is not an act of weakness”, she added, “but an act of respect, transparency and justice, the values for which I have always fought. I would like to express my willingness and availability to represent civil society or the country in forums and processes as long as these are fair and transparent”.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND RENAMO POSTPONED

 The resumption of dialogue between the Mozambican government and the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has been postponed by a week to accommodate Renamo demands over the date and venue.       Last week, the government announced that the dialogue, interrupted in December when the Renamo delegation refused to attend any further meetings, would resume on 22 April.But the Renamo national spokesperson, Fernando Mazanga, cited in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, said the government had not discussed this date with Renamo. “We have told the government that this Monday we will not be available because of prior engagements”, he said. The Renamo counter-proposal was to hold the talks this Thursday, 25 April, but this date was not convenient for the government delegation, headed by Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco.        The new government proposal is for next Monday, 29 April. According to “Mediafax”, Renamo has not yet replied to this proposal (although the daily paper “Noticias” announces this date as a certainty).Renamo also objected to the venue. The three rounds of dialogue in December were held in the Indy Village hotel, in the plush central Maputo neighbourhood of Sommerschield. Nobody objected, and the government had every intention of continuing to use the services of this hotel, which was regarded as a neutral space. But Mazanga told “Mediafax” that Renamo has rejected this venue, or any other hotel. “There are no conditions for holding serious negotiations in a hotel”, he said. “A state character must be given to the dialogue and you can’t do this round a restaurant table”. No doubt the government will be pleasantly surprised by this demand, since it will be much cheaper to hold the talks in a government building instead of hiring a hotel room. “Mediafax” believes the dialogue will most likely be held in the Ministry of Agriculture.As for the agenda, the matters that concern Renamo are the same as in December – the electoral legislation, alleged discrimination against Renamo in the armed forces, the supposed domination of the state by the ruling Frelimo Party, and equality in economic opportunities.     Since the start of the dialogue in December, the new electoral laws have been passed in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, with Frelimo and the second opposition force, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) voting in favour, and Renamo voting against.Renamo has consistently called for the formation of a National Elections Commission (CNE), with a majority of members appointed by opposition parties. It is now threatening not only to boycott the municipal elections scheduled for 20 November, but to prevent other Mozambicans from voting, or even registering as voters.

SPECTRE OF WAR IS REMOTE – CHISSANO

Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has declared that the spectre of war is remote in Mozambique, even though physical and psychological violence persist within Mozambican society. Speaking at the Pan-African Forum on the Culture of Peace, held in Luanda, Chissano said that although some Mozambican politicians occasionally make inflammatory speeches threatening a return to war, the public is in favour of maintaining the climate of peace from which it has benefitted. Cited in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, Chissano added that the peaceful environment in Mozambique has made it possible to draw up paths for the country’s economic and social development .  “With the levels of economic growth that the country is registering and with the boom in the discovery of natural resources, we have been encouraged to multiply our efforts to transform the current difficulties into challenges that can be overcome in an environment of peace, expanding the space for all social strata to participate in development”, he added. Chissano said that the steps taken to transform a scenario of war into a scenario of peace included promoting the spirit of reconciliation, tolerance and respect for differences among citizens.The free circulation of people and goods, he said, is cementing the principles of freedom, social justice and democracy, as well as respect for human rights. Chissano believed this meant that the culture of dialogue is now rooted in Mozambican society.Among the factors which had contributed to the current prevailing climate of peace and dialogue, he said, was Frelimo’s opposition to divisions based on race or ethnicity. Chissano pointed out that, during the war for independence from Portugal, Frelimo brought together men and women from a variety of ethnic groups, regions and races. Initially, there were difficulties and acts of discrimination which degenerated into conflicts and violence within Frelimo, sometimes due to the intervention of agents of colonialism. “Aware of this, we acted under the banner of national unity”, said Chissano. “Culture was a fundamental instrument to create group cohesion and to staunch a wave of violence within our organisation”.He stressed that Frelimo had deliberately thrown together people from different regions and ethnic groups, and had promoted dialogue.“Politically we created spaces of dialogue to maximize our oral tradition”, he continued. “During the national liberation struggle, we used the figure of political commissars who, among other things, undertook profound political work about our struggle through dialogue with the population”. Chissano said that the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, is an example of the culture of debate, dialogue and reconciliation.This exercise, he added, had been replicated in the provincial and municipal assemblies where there is a true democratic exercise of dialogue between representatives elected by the population, and between them and members of the government at various levels.  Chissano also regarded the “open presidencies” held by his successor, Amando Guebuza, in which the head of state tours the country regularly, as “a form of accountability through an open and frank dialogue between those who govern and those who are governed”.

POLICE DETAIN, THEN RELEASE, LEADER OF MOATIZE PROTESTS

The Mozambican police detained the leader of brickmakers in Cateme, in the western province of Tete, who last week blocked the movement of coal from the mine owned by the Brazilian mining giant, Vale, but released him on Sunday after a demonstration in front of the police station.

The brickmakers were resettled in Cateme in order to make way for the Vale mine. They claim that Vale has reneged on its promises of compensation. According to the protestors Vale was to pay each of them 120,000 meticais (about 3,950 US dollars). But Vale says the true figure is 60,000 meticais which was paid in full.

Last week several hundred brickmakers blocked the entrance to the Vale mine, briefly halting the transport of coal by rail. When the police arrested the leader of the protestors, 43 year old Refo Agostinho, his supporters claimed this was an attempt to intimidate them so that there would be no further blockades. They claimed that the police seized Agostinho even though they had no arrest warrant. 

According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, on Sunday the brickmakers gathered outside the Moatize District Police command, demanding the release of their leader. “We’re not leaving without Refo”, said Maria Faria, one of the protestors. “He didn’t kill anybody. We’re just demanding our rights. Let them pay what they owe us. 60,000 meticais is a derisory sum. We’ve had enough of Vale messing us around”.

At about midday, the lawyer for the brickmakers, Herminio Nhantumbo, told the crowd “this arrest is illegal. The police cannot continue to act in this way. This just shows that they are abusing the authority of the state”. 

However, the District Attorney’s Office was now involved, and clearly agreed with Nhantumbo. At around 13.00, Nhantumbo appeared again, this time accompanied by a representative of the District Attorney, with a warrant for the release of Agostinho.

Outside the police station, Refo Agostinho declared “what the police are doing is unjust. They came to arrest me at night. Am I a thief?”

“I shall continue to fight for our rights”, he promised. “There will be a major demonstration. If we don’t get a positive answer, you’ll see what we shall do. We’ve had enough”.

Activities inside the Vale open cast mine have returned to normal, but the trains have not resumed the transport of coal to the port of Beira, for fear of renewed incidents. A Vale source, cited by “O Pais”, said that the company intends to meet with government representatives in order to study how to overcome the dispute with the brickmakers.

DHLAKAMA CLAIMS RENAMO WILL NOT RETURN TO WAR

Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, on Wednesday insisted he did not want to return to war – but took responsibility for the murderous Renamo attack against a police post in Muxungue, in the central province of Sofala, last week.A week ago the police moved to disperse a large group of Renamo members and supporters who had gathered at the Renamo Muxungue office, apparently to organize the promised disruption of the forthcoming voter registration. The police detained 15 people.On Thursday, a Renamo unit attacked the Muxungue police post in an attempt to free the detainees. In the clash, four members of the riot police, and one Renamo fighter died. On Saturday, a group of six armed men, believed to be from Renamo ambushed four vehicles on the main north-south highway, about 20 kilometres from Muxungue. Three people died in these attacks.In a press conference held on Wednesday in Gorongosa district, where he has been living since November, Dhlakama regretted the deaths, and sent condolences to the families of those his men had killed.“There is never going to be any more war”, he pledged. “But I am not satisfied with the situation, and the pending problems need to be resolved rapidly”.He claimed that the current problems arise from the failure to comply with clauses in the 1992 peace agreement between the government and Renamo – notably the failure to form a new, unified army of 30,000 men, half from the old government army, the FAM/FPLM, and half from Renamo.He claimed that the government had limited the size of the new armed forces, the FADM, for budgetary reasons. Either Dhlakama’s memory is very faulty, or he is deliberately deceiving those Mozambicans too young to remember what happened in the wake of the peace accord. The agreement stipulated that all the initial members of the FADM were to be volunteers, and there simply were not enough volunteers to form an army of 30,000 men.Attempts to pressgang men into the FADM led to riots. In mid-1994, mutinies spread throughout the assembly points for government troops and for Renamo forces. Both armies dissolved chaotically, as the soldiers demanded their immediate demobilization.This was why the FADM was formed of less than 12,000 men, the majority of whom were officers. In the end about two thirds of the volunteers came from the FAM/FPLM and one third from Renamo. Renamo accepted this arrangement, since it was impossible to recruit anybody else. Budgetary restrictions had nothing to do with it.Dhlakama took full responsibility for the attack on the Muxungue police post. “I was aware of it and I authorized it”, he said.He added that he was responding to demands from former Renamo guerrillas who wanted to retaliate for the police raid against the Renamo Muxungue office. “I can’t hide it. I t

old them ‘you waged the war, you know where to get the guns, defend yourselves’, and on the following day, they responded”, he said. The Saturday attacks on vehicles, however, he described as “accidents”, without stating clearly who was responsible for them.Dhlakama claimed that he was under pressure from his men, who had accused him of treachery, and demanded that he resign, on the grounds that he was protecting the interests of the ruling Frelimo Party. He claimed that his men had even threatened to kill him, unless he authorized the Muxungue attack.This is a habitual tactic of Dhlakama, painting himself as a moderate under pressure from extremists within his own ranks. He also claimed that three days prior to the press conference, President Armando Guebuza had contacted him and sent him a list of five points to be negotiated in order to maintain peace. One of these points was a demand for an immediate end to attacks against security forces and civilians, such as had happened in Muxungue. Dhlakama said he had responded positively to Guebuza’s initiative – but so far there has been no word from Guebuza’s office as to whether such an exchange of correspondence really took place. He claimed that the go-between in this exchange was the respected academic Lourenco do Rosario, Vice-Chancellor of the Polytechnic University,In his response to Guebuza, Dhlakama had laid down pre-conditions for the resumption of dialogue between Renamo and the government. These included the immediate and unconditional release of the Renamo members detained in Muxungue, and the withdrawal of security forces from the vicinity of his base at Satunjira, in Gorongosa, and from the Renamo offices in Muxungue and the northern.

Partisan headquarters vandalized

Elements considered to be linked to other partisan affiliation vandalized, firing the district delegation of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, MDM, the district headquarters of Macia, located in District 5, in Gaza province, on the night of 4 to 5 current APR. The political delegate district MDM in Macia, Jamisse Miguel, said he noticed the presence of some strange five individuals in the delegation of the party, who were carrying a flatbed that, after his attempt, they took to flight, did not allow that neither they nor their vehicle were identified. Using a crowbar, arrobaram the door of the delegation, introduced five tires, some bars and a bottle of cooking gas and fired. All furniture composed of three sofas, a table and other materials were calcined. Jamisse says this is not the first time something similar happens. "Individuals have been unknown for us, caught up in the dead of night to take our flag." Jamisse adds that these citizens say so proud that nothing will happen to them because both the police and the courts are under your control. In fact, cases that took him to court "died" anyway. No one was convicted. Says Jamisse already complained many times to the police about the persecution c MDM. The Head of Operations of the District Command of PRM, Simeon Cambaco, said his corporation became aware of the occurrence of arson delegation MDM. The police are very concerned to identify the perpetrators of this crime because the officer was not able to give us any name of a single suspect, said Cambaco. Later this year, the delegation was destroyed MDM in the district of Chokwe, burned delegations cock in Chibuto and Mandlakazi and Xai-Xai, frustrated by the march of MDM occasion of its day, 7 March

It's a lie - PRM says. Do not attack the police - says Renamo

An attack conducted by officers of the Rapid Intervention Force (FIR) to the Renamo headquarters in the administrative post of Muxungue, Chibabava district in Sofala, is degenerating into armed conflict. Since the early hours of yesterday (Wednesday) that the FIR attacked the headquarters of Renamo where it is alleged that dozens of people had gathered, life in Muxungue no longer normal. A report from Cmoz parked in Muxungue describes the reality on the ground which is characterized by fear, rumors and lack of official information from the authorities. Authorities did not speak. For example, at the local hospital where they are being assisted police officers injured this morning of Thursday the team was Cmoz that was recommended to contact the district administrator for any information you want apurar.Sem official information, only if there was that include local people, who are still in the village, since most already abandoned their homes to seek refuge in safe places. There is also not conformed version of the police were killed and wounded gunshot victims the corporation itself, but so far it is all assumptions. The true costs ascertain because Muxungue is currently under siege. Walking through the small town is imminent danger of being hit by gunfire. What people said to have happened is that agents of the Rapid Intervention Force attacked in the early morning hours of Wednesday at the headquarters of Renamo Mutongoti neighborhood where they found themselves party members. The FIR came to shoot to kill for no apparent reason and even killed a woman who was not a member of Renamo but that was nearby. About eight people contracted serious injuries and part of them was transferred to the Central Hospital of Beira in Sofala Capital. According to reports more than a dozen members of Renamo detained by police. Everyone who spoke to Canalmoz are convinced that "it was an attack of the FIR civilian men who always worked at the headquarters of Renamo. The population is said that the FIR which began with violence. According Canalmoz sources told the other day that the FIR came Muxungue and "is to sow fear and terror." "People are violently beaten by lack of identity cards. Up to pluck money and property of the people "told us a young man working in one of the many stands of small but bustling town located along the National Highway Number 1 (N1). After the attack the FIR settled a true environment of the combat zone in the village of Muxungue. The villagers are desperately fleeing to leave their property Chibabava, the district headquarters. Throughout the day yesterday, Wednesday, there was no power supply and mobile phone networks were constantly interrupted in Muxungue. The communications were restored overnight yesterday. Muxungue irreconhecí is stable. Truck drivers do not park in the village because of fear of being alvejados.A Canalmoz the report is on the ground and witnessed the almost sudden transformation of the bustling village of Muxungue a ghost town. Almost all nightspots closed overnight. Until BP pumps that work there had to close early. "People are afraid of FIR" an official told us that BP was shutting down the pumps to refuse supply viaturas.O Canalmoz talked to a professor at the School Primary Complete Mucolocoche study where over 600 students and confirmed to us that no one went to school on Wednesday. People are terrified of the action of the FIR that seconds count - we have the violent response of Renamo.

At dawn on Thursday returned to hear gunshots in the small town. From 3:40 a.m. minutes could hear gunfire war, heavy and light. The shots stopped about 4 hours.The story of Canalmoz shifted to a local hospital where it was found to have been entered hospital officials four dead and 13 wounded, all agents of the FIR. Images captured by the local show in Canalmoz wounded being treated in the unit sanitária.Ninguém know how the cops have been shot. Nobody talks Renamo attack, but the truth is that there are these dead and wounded. Policemen injured in treatment Contacted said the police inspector and spokesman for the General Command of Police Pedro Cossa said that there was no attack on Muxungue. "That's a lie. These are your colleagues who Muxungue are lying, "said Pedro Cossa. Even after informing him that Canalmoz features pictures depicting the situation, Pedro Cossa insisted it is "all mentitra." "If you phoned me to know the truth, say that's a lie," he said and hung up the phone . Contacted General Renamo who is in Maputo, Herminio Morais, said part of his party no orders to attack the police, not to fight back the onslaught of FIR. It is unknown how the policemen are dead and others wounded. A truck loaded with gas pumps stayed overnight in BP's Muxungue is given as imminent danger. Your driver told Canalmoz that in case of being hit by a shot from a firearm, the charge can explode and burn everything around within a radius of 5 kilometers. However, traffic until 7 pm today, Thursday continued on the N1 in Muxungue in both directions north and south, but any time can be cut given the fear that lives in the small village. (F.Veloso and L.Conceição, Muxungue) 

END OF RENAMO

Not only will Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, boycott the municipal elections scheduled for 20 November, it is also instructing its members not even to register as voters.According to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Renamo held a meetings of members and supporters in Beira at the weekend at which they were instructed not to register,The Renamo Beira City head of mobilization, Horacio Calavete told reporters “we are not saying that we are not going to stand in the elections this year. We are saying that we will not allow the voter registration, much less the municipal elections, to take place”.Renamo is angered because its proposed amendments to the country’s electoral laws were not accepted. In the vote in December in the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, the new electoral legislation was passed with the votes of the ruling Frelimo Party and the second opposition force, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).“Frelimo and the CNE (National Elections Commission) are playing with us”, exclaimed Calavete. “For us, the law passed by the Assembly of the Republic is no more than a document that seeks to make the theft of votes official”.He threatened that, if the police try to prevent any Renamo demonstration, the party would call on its former guerrillas to intervene. “If the police use force, we shall react in the same way”, Calavete said. “Our soldiers will not forgive”.The Renamo boycott clears the way for the MDM, dismissed by Renamo as “traitors”, to become the main opposition force in the country. The MDM is already preparing for the November elections, and it too held a meeting in Beira at the weekend. The purpose of the MDM was the opposite of that of the Renamo gathering – it was to urge MDM members and sympathizers to take a full part in the elections, starting with the voter registration.There will be a complete re-registration of the electorate in all 43 municipalities from 25 May to 23 July. Registration is a pre-requisite for voting in November.The MDM Beira delegate, Flora Impula, said “we are starting a series of contacts with our members and supporters and with the public at large, to convince them to participate in the elections”.She dismissed the Renamo boycott as “childish” and as evidence that Renamo never really wanted to govern Mozambique.“Clearly Renamo doesn’t want the democracy it claims to defend”, she said. “It doesn’t make sense for a party such as Renamo to boycott a political process and think only about demonstrations. What we want is to go forward”.The US embassy in Maputo is also unimpressed by Renamo’s promised boycott. Cited in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, US ambassador Douglas Griffiths said that US diplomats have met with the Renamo parliamentary group, in an attempt to persuade Renamo to change its mind. “The people deserve transparent, free and inclusive elections and more alternatives”, said Griffiths. “The non-participation of Renamo limits the alternatives”.Griffiths did not reveal what response, if any, he received from the Renamo parliamentarians.