PIRACY A MAJOR THREAT TO SECURITY - DEFENCE MINISTER

Mozambique’s Defence Minister, Filipe Nyussi, declared on Friday that maritime piracy is a growing threat to human life and to the security of states, and possibly even to international security.He was speaking in Maputo at the annual meeting between the Defence Ministry and military attaches accredited in Mozambique. Piracy off the East African coast has spread southwards from Somalia, as far as Tanzanian waters and poses a threat to the Mozambique Channel. It is also a scourge in other parts of the world, such as South-East Asia.Sharing of experiences, Nyussi told the meeting, can lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon of piracy and its consequences for socio-economic development. Turning to the question of internal security, Nyussi stressed that, due to its geographical location, Mozambique is a corridor used by traffickers in drugs, guns and human beings. “Our national borders are long and porous, and allow easy and informal transit of people and merchandise”, he said.“We have the transfer of large amounts of money to Zimbabwe, we have refugees coming from Somali and from West Africa, we have informal cross-border sale of fuel from Malawi, and illegal fishing in Lake Niassa, not to mention the constant violation of our maritime borders”, said the Minister.Many of the illegal immigrants in Mozambique, he added, were using the country as a route into South Africa, while others, notably from West Africa, had obtained forged passports of SADC countries with which they hoped to enter the European Union.
There were also illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh who came to work in unregulated artisanal mining, or in trade. The government, said Nyussi, was seeking partnerships to help modernize the police force and fight against crime.