Rule with democracy and not divide the country

Mozambique is steeped in its second armed conflict since the end of the civil war 16 years. In the city, the dialogue between the Government of FRELIMO and RENAMO has long been discontinued to make room for the noise of weapons inside the country.Mozambicans go worn with the blood spilled and the absence of a peace sign at the end of the tunnel. DW Africa interviewed exclusively to the leader of RENAMO, Afonso Dhlakama, who gave his version of the facts.

DW Africa: What is the concern of RENAMO now?

Afonso Dhlakama (AD): The concern RENAMO is the concern of the people, especially the people who have been voting in RENAMO and its leader. To maintain democracy and to avoid the worst in Mozambique, because the people promises that if RENAMO not do something, he, leaderless, can go outside, prefer even from everything and to die, and this can be a mess to Mozambique, the priority of RENAMO, and that is the people, is govern the six provinces where we had the majority in the last elections. Although there has been fraud, we resist too much, we were above all parties. Rule with democracy and not divide the country, as FRELIMO claims or claim the independence of each province, but there peacefully rule governing alternation at the local level. This is the concern of RENAMO and my moment.

DW Africa: RENAMO had promised to rule from March 1 the provinces where he says he won in 2015. Entrentanto election that has not happened so far. Because?

AD: No, RENAMO said the day. He said that from the month of March will start its governance. Today, Monday (03.14.), There are still sixteen days to finish the month. Let's start this governance gradually, we will take account of various districts in each province and establish standards, our administrations. We said that from March we will catch the sticks and drive FRELIMO, no. In fact, March is this month, I can assure you that no-hearing before the 31st of this month RENAMO in the provinces where he obtained the majority, has already taken many districts. It was what we promise and there is nothing that is out of time.

  

DW Africa: In the current clashes, most of the victims have been civilians, according to the press, contrary to earlier confrontation in which most were army soldiers. This leaves many disgruntled citizens, which to some extent makes RENAMO is not as well regarded as the earlier conflict. RENAMO is aware that assessment?

AD: Absolutely not. Ma'am, I was born and raised in Mozambique, Mozambican am and was in FRELIMO before fighting for democracy. The Mozambican people know what is happening, even the Mozambican press knows what is happening. Either frelimista can try to convey a negative image. I will tell you: this conflict resumed a month ago, led by FRELIMO. Since January and February, FRELIMO hired North Korean, trained death squads in Maputo, and this group was spread through the provinces of central and northern. According to FRELIMO, it was to prevent the governance of RENAMO. And these groups went traction cars to the four wheels, which overnight kidnapped members of RENAMO and even supporters. They did this in a district, and the next day, were the bodies in the woods. And the European ambassadors and accredited Africans here know this situation. So RENAMO Defense Department took action made ambushes between the Save River section where come from the south to the center, made another ambush between Save River and Muxungué and also put up between Chimoio and Tete and between Gorongosa and Zambezi river in Caia, to intercept these kidnappers groups. In fact, many were caught and the situation is already better.

But this taking action, FRELIMO created military convoys, forcing carriers to be escorted because the military FRELIMO could no longer go for fear of being attacked, know the capacity of the forces of RENAMO. So the forces of FRELIMO, to pretend, forced the trucks and southern carriers to carry the soldiers. Now, this process of military FRELIMO entering the civilian cars, so RENAMO shoots military cars. Trough that one dies and another, and FRELIMO sends journalists say that RENAMO attacked civilians. You know very well. RENAMO survives thanks to the support of the population. If RENAMO wanted to kill civilians in their areas [it would have done], lives with civilians. I did not have to go choose a road to attack civilian cars because they circulate the districts. RENAMO closed the logistics of government forces, but FRELIMO to launch propaganda, ashamed to be suffering low today can not say twenty, thirty or forty (soldiers) young men or Rapid Intervention Forces die every day, and talk of the population. There are people who are dying, but one or the other may be a victim of shots from either side. The situation that can confirm in Tete province is as follows: The clashes have caused much [of the population] in Nkondedzi, Moatize district took refuge in Malawi. But it was also confirmed that the population fled the atrocities of the government forces.

DW Africa: In this regard the government says there is no war refugees are relatives and supporters of RENAMO who are in Malawi ...

AD: Ma'am, it seems to me that international radio reported the situation a few weeks ago. There is an agency of the United Nations credible, UNHCR, who was in Malawi and saw Mozambican refugees there, including children, and said with his mouth full fleeing the atrocities of the government forces, because when the RENAMO forces clash with forces government, these lead fight and avenge themselves. Burn the houses accusing the local population is supporting RENAMO. Incidentally, this is the [FRELIMO] policy. Two years ago, here in Satundjira in Maringué, people were left without homes. It is the same as happened in Nkondedzi. The STV itself, which is the private agency here, was in Malawi, where she interviewed people. He was in the abandoned areas and confirmed [all]. To be true, it is propaganda Tete governor say they are not refugees, but family RENAMO. It's nearly ten thousand. So to be so are all the ten thousand family [members] RENAMO in such a small place? This advertising is old and no longer adhesive. Are refugees, only FRELIMO not accept that Malawi grant them refugee status, because it is a little shame. Malawi is a small country, has no food to give and so is calling. And now the Deputy Minister of Justice or the like, led to TVM, state television that advertises for FRELIMO, led dinamizadores leaders of the city of Tete to the areas concerned and instructed them in advance to say that the people fled the atrocities of the forces of RENAMO. But this no longer takes anything because everyone knows why those people fled.

But going back, there are many civilians who are dying. There were three ambushes: in Zove area, the section between the Save River and Muxungué, the second ambush in the area of ​​Zonde, Catandica, the section between Chimoio and Tete, and the last ambush was the section between the town of Gorongosa and the bridge on the Zambezi river in Caia. Therefore, in the aera of Nhamapanza and Nhamajaja.

DW Africa: these ambushes, at least one of them died the driver of a carrier, was an ambush against a bus of passengers ...

AD: I was passenger, my sister. This happened in Vonde. A week ago, the machimbombo was the Naji company full of "fademos" Armed Forces of Mozambique, which emerged from Chimoio to Tete. Radio Deutsche Welle can use your sources, you'll have the evidence. I do not have to cheat and not to advertise. Then the driver was hit, I know it was a Saturday at nine. There was no member of the public, died thirty-nine "fademos". May die one and another member of the public, we are not doing the holy war, you can catch one, we have to say yes. Now say that RENAMO is attacking civilians not because it would be a serious problem, RENAMO survives thanks to the support of the population.

DW Africa: Also during the first clashes, the matter RENAMO was managed by the Ministry of Defence, but at some point went to the Interior Ministry. When there is fighting who answers is the police. Do you think this is an attempt to minimize the status of RENAMO or transform RENAMO into a kind of unruly or simply marginal?

AD:. There they entered elements RENAMO after the General Peace Agreement, in Chissano time, he did not like, as well as all strategists FRELIMO. They saw that the "fademos" (Armed Forces of Mozambique) would not serve the interests of FRELIMO. She created [other] army as an alternative, the Police Rapid Intervention, now FIR, Rapid Intervention Forces, controlled by the Interior Ministry. This is a 100% Army [FRELIMO] because there is no mixing with RENAMO. It is an army made up of former soldiers who fought against RENAMO for 16 years, and the young people are incorporated in the army they do not belong to any police. It is an own army because "fademos" have a lot of mistrust.While our men are not generals, nor are considered FRELIMO distrusts "fademos" because they did not accept this control, and when they are deployed, run away, while the FIR is controlled by the Interior Ministry and is not a police . This FIR is an army authentic, with more conditions than the "fademos". They have tanks, heavy weapons, earn well and have their own barracks. There is sometimes some generals "fademos" to command the FIR. It's what's happening. Not to minimize RENAMO or to despise and assign RENAMO a statute of bandits. No, on the contrary. It is that FRELIMO suffered casualties and "fademos" are the alternative to the FIR. But even so, the FIR is also suffer losses. Currently, FRELIMO has not effective. He tried to launch offensives in Zambezia, Nampula and here near the Gorongosa, but we put them all out of action.

Central Bank Holds Interest Rates Steady

The Bank of Mozambique has opted to keep its key interest rates unchanged for at least the next month.A statement from the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, which met in Maputo on Monday, declared that “in light of the projections for inflation in the short and medium term, which continue to reflect the prevalence of factors of pressure, the Committee thinks it important to strengthen the coordination of fiscal-monetary and sector policies, as well as the monitoring of the main macro-economic indicators”.That meant there was no room for reducing interest rates. So the Standing Lending Facility (the interest rate paid by the commercial banks to the central bank for money borrowed on the Interbank Money Market) will remain at 10.75 per cent. It rose to this figure, from 9.75 per cent, in mid-February.This is the highest interest rate the Bank of Mozambique has charged since September 2012. The rate then fell gradually, reaching 7.5 per cent in November 2014. It remained at that level for a year, but three rate rises in October, November and December 2015 brought it back up to 9.75 per cent. That rate held in January, but in February the upward trend resumed.The Standing Deposit Facility (the rate paid by the central bank to the commercial banks on money they deposit with it) remains at 4.25 per cent. The Compulsory Reserves Coefficient - the amount of money that the commercial banks must deposit with the Bank of Mozambique – also remains unchanged, at 10.5 per cent.Figure from the National Statistics Institute (INE), based on the consumer prices indices for the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira), show an inflation rate for February of 2.24 per cent. Inflation for the first two months of the year was 4.95 per cent.

Despite the relatively sharp rise in inflation the business confidence index, also published by the INE, showed a slight improvement in January, supposedly based on a favourable assessment of the prospects for employment and prices. But this was before the rebel movement Renamo resumed its ambushes against vehicles on roads in the central provinces, which will certainly have shaken business confidence.The Mozambican currency, the metical, continued to depreciate in February, though at a fairly modest pace. At the end of February, the US dollar was quoted at 47.28 meticais on the Interbank Exchange Market. The metical had slid by 2.65 per cent against the dollar during the month, and the annual depreciation was 49.06 per cent.In the commercial banks the average exchange rate on 29 February was 48.69 meticais to the dollar, a monthly depreciation of 5.68 per cent. At the end of February, there were 2.95 meticais to the South African rand, a depreciation over the month of 2.43 per cent. But over the past year the metical has only fallen in value against the rand by 3.87 per cent. Provisional figures show that in February the country’s net foreign reserves fell by 31.8 million dollars to 1.83 billion dollars. The reserves are enough to cover three months of imports of goods and non-factor services, when the operations of the foreign exchange mega-projects are excluded.The Monetary Policy Committee also decided that the central bank will intervene in the inter-bank markets to ensure that, by the end of March, the monetary base does not exceed 66.443 billion meticais. But the bank has been finding it difficult to bring the monetary base under full control. In February, the monetary base shrank by 1.28 billion meticais, much less than hoped. On 29 February, the monetary base stood at 69.899 billion meticais, well above the target figure of 68.163 billion meticais.

DONATED EQUIPMENT STOLEN FROM BEIRA HOSPITAL

The management of Beira Central Hospital has confirmed that 70 per cent of the medical equipment donated to the hospital just a year ago by the Rotary Club of Australia has been stolen, and ended up in a private clinic, reports Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.According to a report given to Sofala provincial governor Helena Taipo, the stolen equipment intended for the hospital’s operating theatres alone was valued at between 400,000 and 500,000 US dollars.On Monday some of the stolen goods were recovered notably a surgical table and two beds which were being used in the “Sorridente” private clinic.The scandal came to light thanks to an investigation undertaken by the Beira Rotary Club. Its chairperson, Andrew Jennings, told a Beira press conference on Monday that the Rotary Club of Australia had delivered, in February 2015, a 40 foot container full of equipment intended for the hospital.But in October it was noticed that 19 surgical beds and a surgical table had disappeared, leaving some of the hospital’s patients obliged to sleep on the floor. Jennings said the Rotary Club approached the hospital management several times asking for the whereabouts of the missing goods. The only explanation given was that the equipment had been scrapped, as it was obsolete. Since the equipment had been new in February 2015, this claim made no sense.A delegation from the Rotary Club of Australia was due to visit Beira to see how its donation was being used, and so Jennings decided to ask for an audience with Taipo. When she was informed, she called the hospital managers to her office, and eventually it was conformed that there was a corrupt scheme in place, whereby equipment was stolen and then written off as obsolete.The Sofala provincial government spokesperson, Helcio Canda, said this scheme was made possible by the way the hospital received the donation, which completely bypassed the Provincial Directorate of Health and the governor’s office. Canda regarded this as symptomatic of the disorganization reigning in Beira Central Hospital.“It’s a total lack of discipline with frequent thefts of medicines, countering the efforts of the government, in partnership with investors, to serve the people with dignity”, declared Canda. “The material is stolen from the central hospital and sent to a private clinic”.The provincial government regards the entire hospital management, particularly the director, Augusto Macome, as responsible for the scandal, and has called for exemplary punishment. Meanwhile Taipo has demanded that all the stolen material be returned to the hospital.

Shops attacked in South Africa

South Africans angry with their socio-economic situation have again turned against immigrants.

South Africans in townships in Gauteng, Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal, Free State and North West have looted stores owned by foreigners during violent protests against lack of basic services.Mozambican community leaders in Johannesburg, Amelia Muthisse and Antonio Tembe, have advised their fellow countrymen to return home if at all possible, but illegal migration of Mozambicans and other Africans to South Africa continues.The number of Mozambicans living illegally in South Africa is estimated at more than one million, and with political instability at home, the number may increase.Xenophobic violence has become a routine expression of domestic dissatisfaction in South Africa.In April last year, at least seven people, including two Mozambicans, were killed during violence in Durban and Johannesburg. More than three thousand immigrants were displaced from their homes and businesses occupied or looted.

G4S ADMITS OWNERSHIP OF UNIFORMS

Some of the uniforms seized by the Mozambican police at a house used by criminal gangs as a hideout does indeed belong to the private security company G4S.The police raided the house, in the outer Maputo neighbourhood of Luis Cabral, on Monday, where they found a variety of weaponry, communications equipment, and uniforms. Some were green uniforms apparently identical to those used by the rebel movement Renamo, while others seemed to belong to G4S.A letter from G4S, cited by the Beira daily “Diario de Mocambique”, said that the uniforms were indeed G4S property, but had not been used by the company since 2008.G4S guards receive new uniforms regularly, and are supposed to return the old ones. The company’s logistics sector then destroys the old uniforms at the Malhempsene rubbish dump in the southern city of Matola.The company surmised that the uniforms found at the Luis Cabral house may have been stolen by the people who were supposed to destroy them. It admitted that this incident would oblige G4S to revise its procedures for disposing of old uniforms.The company insisted that the blue shirts, still wrapped in plastic bags, which the police had also found in the house have nothing to do with G4S.Renamo has also denied that anything found in the house has any connection with the rebel movement.

Analysis in recruitment

About 1,400 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Mozambique Defense (FADM) defected from the army ranks, due to undisclosed reasons, according to figures released Monday by the Ministry of Combatants, without revealing the exact time of occurrence.The data was released by the Minister of this portfolio, Eusebius Lambo, a meeting between senior officials of his ministry with the President, Filipe Nyusi in a report for the balance of the activities of the past year.The figures show that the province of Tete, one of the battlefields in the current wave of political and military tension, is the province with more defections.In this province the center of the country was detected the existence of "two battalions with a total workforce of 1170 former military regarded as deserters," said the Minister of Combatants.Another large group, composed of "220 former soldiers" fled the barracks in Sofala province and are refugees in neighboring Malawi, according to data revealed in the Ministry's report directed by Eusebius Lambo.

No information about the real causes of this rout in the ranks of the national army.

This is the first time in recent history of the country, where the authorities hereby announces defections numbers within the FADM, confirming information that came to public data that the level of some opinion circles, had been advanced from the beginning the political and military tension, for about three years.Although there are no studies or official information on the causes of this rout, easily can associate the recurring military clashes between the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and armed Renamo men, confined in the center of the country, especially the provinces Sofala, Manica and Tete precisely the places where the information released yesterday confirm through numbers. (In newspaper O País)

INFLATION OF 2.24 PER CENT IN FEBRUARY

Inflation in Mozambique in February, as measured by the consumer price indices in the three largest cities (Maputo, Nampula and Beira), was 2.24 per cent, the National Statistics Institute (INE) announced on Wednesday.The monthly inflation was almost entirely due to rises in food prices. The most significant price rises were for brown sugar (18 per cent), maize flour (11.7 per cent), fresh or frozen fish (6.3 per cent), tomatoes (5.9 per cent), cowpeas (25.3 per cent), lettuce (28.2 per cent), and rice (2.1 per cent).In the first two months of the year prices have risen by 4.95 per cent, again due overwhelmingly to the increase in food prices. In the two month period, food and non-alcoholic drinks rose in price by 4.1 per cent, clothing and footwear by 0.21 per cent, furniture by 0.19 per cent, and education costs by 0.16 per cent. No other items in the basket of goods and services on which the consumer price index is based rose by as much as 0.1 per cent.Inflation over the past year was 12.18 per cent, while the average 12 monthly inflation rate over the year was 4.99 per cent.Some comfort can be taken from the fact the February inflation rate is lower than that for January (2.65 per cent), and for December 2015 (4.76 per cent).

MH370 Search: ‘High Possibility’ Debris In Mozambique Is From A Boeing 777

AN object that could be debris from a Boeing 777 has been found off Mozambique and could belong to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.The debris, approximately one-metre in length, will be transferred to Australia for examination and analysis.US blogger Blaine Gibson made the discovery off the coast of Mozambique in south-east Africa after consulting oceanography experts at Curtin University in Western Australia.Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi, said Mr Gibson had come to see him last year to discuss drift modelling prepared by the university, and he had also spoken to MH370 families during his visit.Prof Pattiaratchi was able to advise Mr Gibson on the most likely places where more debris might be found, Mozambique being high on the list.“We’d forecast debris would reach the Mozambique Channel and Mozambique by last August or September at the earliest,” said Prof Pattiaratchi.“It is absolutely no surprise something has now been found, and I would feel quite certain it will be from MH370.”Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester confirmed the discovery was consistent with drift modelling undertaken by experts advising on the MH370 search.It will be two years next Tuesday since the aircraft disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.Malaysia’s transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said the origin of the item was “yet to be confirmed and verified”, but tweeted there was a “high possibility” it was from MH370.“Based an early reports, high possibility debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777,” Liow Tiong Lai tweeted.An American tourist who has been blogging about MH370 found the debris on a sandbank in the Mozambique Channel, NBC reported.Joao de Abreu, president of Mozambique’s Civil Aviation Institute (IACM), said no positive identification of the piece had been made.“We received this afternoon a piece of plane that was brought by an American visitor named Blaine Gibson,” Mr de Abreu said.“He said he had been walking on the beach two days ago and found the piece near Vilankulo, on a sand bank called Paluma near Benguerra Island (part of the Bazaruto archipelago).”The finding comes just days before the two-year anniversary of the disappearance of MH370.Mozambican authorities said the debris was found near the coastal town of Vilankulo in Inhambane province; the same corner of the southern Indian Ocean where the only confirmed piece of debris, a flaperon, was found last July.“We can’t confirm categorically that this small piece belongs to the (MH370) plane,” Paulo Teimezira, inspector of aeronautic materials at the civil aviation department in Maputo, said.Mr Teimezira also denied reports the object was on its way to Malaysia for further examination, saying it was still in Mozambique. He said more information would be released on Thursday.Citing US, Malaysian and Australian investigators who had seen photos of the object, NBC reported the debris (which had the words “NO STEP” on it) could be a horizontal stabiliser — a winglike part attached to the tail.Malaysia’s transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said Malaysia was working with Australia, which is co-ordinating an Indian Ocean search for the ill-fated jumbo jet, to retrieve the debris for closer study.“I urge everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time,” he said.Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre said it was aware of the discovery and is in the process of arranging a thorough examination.Australia currently has four ships currently with those vessels searching about 85,000 square kilometres of the sea floor already.

The find comes just days before the two-year anniversary of MH370’s disappearance.If confirmed, this would be the second piece of debris found from MH370, which vanished on March 8, 2014 while on a routine overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew aboard.Last July, a man on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion found a wing fragment that experts later determined came from MH370.Investigators believe the plane rerouted to the southern Indian Ocean, where it crashed, but no site has been found and the cause of the disaster remains unknown.Theories of what happened include a hijacking, rogue pilot action, or sudden mechanical problem that incapacitated the crew, but there is nothing to support any one theory.Families of passengers accuse Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government of allowing the plane to disappear through a slow and bungled response, as well as withholding information and treating families poorly.Both strongly deny the charges, but a number of miscues blotted Malaysia’s chaotic reaction — including its air force’s failure to act despite tracking the plane on radar for nearly an hour after it diverted.A slew of lawsuits targeting the struggling carrier have been launched in US, Malaysian Chinese and Australia courts ahead of the two-year anniversary, a deadline for taking legal action against the airline.Aviation-law specialists say are they likely to result in payouts of possibly hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mozambique losing ground in wildlife protection

The measures taken by the Mozambican government for the protection of wildlife are not having the desired effect, ‘VOA Portugues’ reports.World Wildlife Day on March 3 saw environmentalists describing how dramatic the situation in Mozambique is, which they characterize by a lack of control over the exploitation of wildlife resources.Poaching continues to decimate wildlife all over the country with some species simply eliminated, while others are declining drastically. Biologist Carlos Bento says the black rhino is now no longer found in the country, and of the 20,000 elephants that roamed the country five years ago, only about five thousand survive.Bento believes that the white rhino is also gone, with those that are seen coming from South Africa’s Krueger Park and returning there.“And even then,” he says, “when the poachers realize it, they go there and attack.”Bento says that the elephant is also broadly at risk, indicating that the approximately five thousand remaining “may be only four thousand, because the slaughter of elephants carries on daily and is so intense”.Despite the creation by the Mozambican government of the Natural Resources and Environment Protection Police, the country continues to lose its fauna. Bento says improvements are needed in the operation and training of the police force.“We have to see if the training given to the natural resource protection police is effective or not, because I maintain this force needs different training to that of the civil police,” the biologist says.The environmental police should know more about ecology and the interaction between species, Bento says, because this would better enable them to protect wildlife resources. Bento also advocates the integration of the environmental police into the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development.

Mozambicans win international technology competition

UX, a Mozambican company which develops online technologies in Mozambique, has won the Global Innovation Competition for technology.The award ceremony took place in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, where the group was awarded the prize for the best technology to focus on public participation and citizen engagement in Africa and Asia.In the competition final, 15 companies selected from more than 300 candidates presented their projects to the jury and audience. Competitors were selected with a view to their potential for expansion into other markets.

Pemba entrepreneurs find 2016 tax collection targets “fabulous”

Entrepreneurs in Pemba, Cabo Delgado, say that, with the Mozambican economy in depression, the metical depreciating, export commodity prices falling and pressure on inflation, it will be near impossible for the government to reach its tax collection targets this year.Entrepreneurs expressed their concern at a meeting with the Director General of Customs in Pemba this week, to whom they suggested that the executive revise revenue forecasts for the year downward.“What we ask is that the Director General of Customs, when he next talks to the people responsible for the planning and preparation of the state budget, transmits our concern. It is not reasonable from an economic point of view to expect tax revenues to increase during an economic depression,” businessman Assif Osman said.The Director General of Customs, Aly Malla said that the targets were adopted by parliament and that it was not the responsibility of Customs to interfere. “It is determined that the state needs a certain budget and it is up to us only to carry out instructions,” the director general said.

Triton Minerals to develop Ancuabe graphite mine

The Australian mining company Triton Minerals, which holds the rights to graphite and vanadium deposits in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, announced on Tuesday that it is to focus on developing its graphite deposits at Ancuabe.The deposit is expected to be the source of premium graphite flakes. Triton states that “initial flotation test work of Ancuabe material has returned some of the highest concentrations of jumbo and super jumbo flake graphite ever recorded from East Africa”.The mine has the additional benefit of being only fifty kilometres away from the port of Pemba.According to the Triton, the company intends to become “a graphite concentrate producer of global significance over the next twelve months, underpinned by its world-class graphite assets in Mozambique”.Triton also has a graphite and vanadium asset at Balama North which it describes as “world class”. However, the statement makes clear that in 2016 the focus will be on Ancuabe.Graphite is a form of carbon which is highly priced due to its properties as a conductor of electricity. It is used in batteries and fuel cells, and is the basis for the “miracle material” graphene, which is the strongest material ever measured, with vast potential for use in the electronics industries.

Xtract Resources receives approval for Manica acquisition

The British based company Xtract Resources has received approval from the Mozambican government for the acquisition of the Manica Gold Project from the Australian company Auroch Minerals.The Manica Gold Project is situated four kilometres north of the town of Manica, near the Zimbabwe border. The main deposit, known as Fair Bride, is estimated to hold 923,200 ounces of gold. However, mining will recover just three grammes of gold for every tonne of material processed.Under the terms of the sale, Xtract will pay Auroch just under ten million dollars in cash and shares and take on the responsibility for a further million dollars worth of debts.The sale will also result in Xtract Resources paying the Mozambican Tax Authority (AT) 700,000 dollars in capital gains tax.According to Xtract’s chief executive Jan Nelson, “we are delighted to have received approval from the Mozambican mining authorities and to conclude the acquisition of the Manica gold project. This signifies the next step in Xtract’s transformation from a small-scale miner to mid-tier gold producer”.The price of gold is currently about 1,240 US dollars an ounce.

A Sign of Life From Mozambique’s Energy Sector

Low oil prices and a weak global economy have thrown a wrench in many countries’ plans to develop and exploit their untouched energy resources. But for Mozambique, those plans may be back on the table.On March 1, an energy consortium signed a cooperation agreement to construct a pipeline that will stretch from Mozambique’s massive offshore natural gas fields to northern South Africa. Though the deal is just an early step toward the pipeline’s actual completion, it could be a sign of progress to come for both countries’ energy sectors.The consortium responsible for building the pipeline comprises Mozambique’s Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), South Africa’s SacOil, the Netherlands’ Profin and the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau. In their agreement, which builds on an initial deal struck in December 2014, the four companies committed to the funding needed to complete the project’s pre-investment and engineering studies, as well as the pipeline’s construction and operation. According to project estimates, the 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline will cost approximately $6 billion.The China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau will shoulder 70 percent of that total cost by securing funds from Chinese financial institutions. For the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., of which the China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau is a subsidiary, the pipeline is an opportunity for the company to increase its profits from its energy assets in Mozambique. The company currently holds a 10 percent stake in one of Mozambique’s potentially lucrative offshore natural gas blocks. However, as is true of the rest of Mozambique’s offshore reserves, obstacles have prevented the block from being fully developed.

Anadarko forecasts minimum investment

Anadarko forecasts minimum investment in the Mozambique liquefied natural gas project the company is involved in this year.The project, which is not expected to start producing before 2021, marks the start of gas exports and a new era in the country’s economic future, which may however be compromised by the falling price of oil in the international market.Citing a statement issued by the company on Tuesday, Bloomberg writes that Anadarko is considering selling assets worth up to US$3 billion this year, as well as cutting spending on new wells and other projects by almost 50 percent, because of low prospective returns in the oil market.

French oil industry professionals visit Mozambique

A group of 30 French oil industry professionals are visiting Mozambique from the 7th of this month in order to deepen oil and gas cooperation with the country.The GEP-AFTP is an association of 250 French companies in the oil and gas sector.According to a press release received by AIM, this is the group’s second visit to Mozambique, and will focus on prospects for cooperation in the oil and gas sectors, as well as evaluating the business opportunities offered by the Mozambican market.“During its stay in Mozambique, the delegation will meet Mozambican authorities, public and private business sectors and hydrocarbon sector institutions in Mozambique,” the statement reads.“The group has 1,100 professionals in the gas and oil sector and its mission is to disseminate scientific and technical knowledge to its members,” the statement adds.

FOOD INSECURITY COULD HIT 1.8 MILLION PEOPLE

The number of people facing food insecurity because of the severe drought in southern and central Mozambique is about 166,000, Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario told the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday.Answering questions about the drought, Rosario warned that the situation could worsen if there is no rain this month, making even moderate harvests impossible. In that case, there would be a scenario of “severe food insecurity”, affecting almost 1.8 million people.Currently the government is coping with the drought through the funds in the state budget envisaged in the Contingency Plan for the 2015-2016 rainy season, plus money raised in the national solidarity campaign the government has launched, and support from those international cooperation partners who work with the government in disaster risk management.But Rosario admitted that, in the event of a deterioration to “severe food insecurity”, the government would have to reassess the situation and “decide what type of intervention or alert should be adopted”.

The government’s Disaster Management Technical Council (CTGC) will update the impact of the drought by 11 March, the Prime Minister added. On that assessment will depend the decision on whether to launch an international appeal to raise additional resources to assist Mozambicans severely affected by hunger.Rosario said that so far over 584,000 hectares of crops are regarded as lost. The impact on livestock has also been serious, with the loss of 4,584 head of cattle.The drought is caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon. This is the anomalous heating of the surface waters of the Pacific Ocean, affecting the circulation of winds and global weather patterns. Rosario noted that the current El Nino is the most intense for half a century.He pointed out that the drought is regional in scope. Thus seven of South Africa’s nine provinces are affected, with the loss of about 90 per cent of their maize production. In Swaziland, 360,000 people could be facing food insecurity by April, and restrictions have been imposed on access to water. In Zimbabwe, the amount of land under production has fallen by 40 per cent compared with last year.“The accumulation of adverse conditions increases the vulnerability of the entire southern African region, due to the exhaustion of food reserves, the rise in food prices and a substantial increase in food insecurity”, said Rosario.The north of the country has the opposite problem. Here there have been heavy rains and localized flooding. Rosario said there has been no loss of life directly related to these floods, and he attributed this to preventive actions, persuading people to keep away from flood-prone areas, and the reactivation of local disaster risk management committees.The northern rains cut some of the roads in Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces, but in most cases traffic has been restored, the Prime Minister said.Cholera outbreaks had been reported in two northern provinces, Nampula and Niassa. Rosario said that, since August 2015, the cumulative number of cases diagnosed was 1,920. They had resulted in ten deaths and a lethality rate of 0.5 per cent.

TRITON MINERALS TO DEVELOP ANCUABE GRAPHITE MINE

The Australian mining company Triton Minerals, which holds the rights to graphite and vanadium deposits in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, announced on Tuesday that it is to focus on developing its graphite deposits at Ancuabe.The deposit is expected to be the source of premium graphite flakes. Triton states that “initial flotation test work of Ancuabe material has returned some of the highest concentrations of jumbo and super jumbo flake graphite ever recorded from East Africa”. The mine has the additional benefit of being only fifty kilometres away from the port of Pemba.According to the Triton, the company intends to become “a graphite concentrate producer of global significance over the next twelve months, underpinned by its world-class graphite assets in Mozambique”.Triton also has a graphite and vanadium asset at Balama North which it describes as “world class”. However, the statement makes clear that in 2016 the focus will be on Ancuabe.Graphite is a form of carbon which is highly priced due to its properties as a conductor of electricity. It is used in batteries and fuel cells, and is the basis for the “miracle material” graphene, which is the strongest material ever measured, with vast potential for use in the electronics industries.

President of US EXIM Bank visits Mozambique

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank), Fred Hochberg, is paying a working visit to Mozambique this week During his stay, Hochberg is liaising with national authorities to discuss the future of the economic partnership between the two countries. A press release from the US embassy cited by Notícias states that the presence of Fred Hochberg in Mozambique is part of a regional visit he is undertaking to talk about the role of the EXIM Bank and the export credit agencies in the promotion and support of the economic and infrastructure development in Africa.

“The president of EXIM bank will also discuss the bank’s role in the implementation of foreign direct investment in developing countries in Africa with the Mozambican authorities,” reads the statement. Hochberg is one of the top business leaders in US President Barack Obama’s administration. During Hochberg’s six-year tenure, EXIM Bank has supported more than 1.3 million American jobs and financed exports valued at more than US$200 billion, generating more than US$2 billion in surplus revenue for US taxpayers and reducing internal costs by 15 percent. “During Hochberg’s mandate, the Bank increased its focus on customers, in particular in exporting small businesses of America, and in each of the past years, nearly 90 percent of EXIM Bank commitments supported small businesses directly,” reads the press release. Hochberg, the source adds, has also worked to expand the global presence of major national industries in which US exporters have a comparative advantage, such as renewable energy, space technology, construction, agricultural machinery, medical technology, agriculture and civil aviation. In addition, it has simplified processes, dramatically reduced transaction times, and introduced new innovative financial products to better equip U.S. companies to win sales in an increasingly competitive global economy.

EU disburses EUR1.2 million

The European Union is to spend EUR1.2 million on projects that streamline the business environment in Mozambique, in implementation of an agreement on economic partnership with six sub-Saharan African countries.“This first tranche is aimed at preparing all parties involved to implement the agreement in Mozambique. We are talking about aspects related to the dissemination of information and training,” the European Commission Directorate General for Trade’s Gijs Berends told Lusa on the sidelines of a partnership agreement seminar held in Maputo.The money, Berends said, would boost Mozambican business, benefiting both private sector companies and the government.

Vale writes down US$1.729 billion

The book value of the coal assets of the Brazilian mining giant Vale in Mozambique fell by 2.403 billion US dollars in 2015, leaving these assets valued at 1.729 billion dollars.According to a company statement released on Thursday, the impairment on the assets was due to lower coal prices and the increase in the costs of logistics last year. An impaired asset is defined as one the market value of which falls below its book value, and is not expected to recover.Vale also revealed that its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) for its Mozambique operations was minus 508 million dollars in 2015. This compares with EBITA of minus 506 million dollars in 2014.Despite heavy losses, the company has continued to invest in Mozambique. In the last quarter of 2015 it spent a total of 196 million dollars on expanding its coal mine in Moatize, in the central province of Tete. It spent a further 259 million dollars on the Nacala Logistics Corridor, through which it will transport its coal by rail, through southern Malawi, to the new port of Nacala-a-Velha.The situation is reminiscent of the predicament that the London-based mining company Rio Tinto found itself in during 2013. Rio Tinto had to write down its Mozambican coal assets by three billion dollars. A year later it sold off the assets for the derisory sum of 50 million dollars to the Indian state owned conglomerate International Coal Ventures Private Limited (ICVL).