BEIRA WILL NOT BE DIVIDED

Mozambique’s Ministry of State Administration has rejected as illegal the proposal made by the Sofala provincial government to divide the city of Beira in two.Two alternative proposals were made for dividing the city. In the more radical one, Beira would be reduced to a fairly small area centred on the port. Only eight of the current 26 neighbourhoods would remain under an elected municipal jurisdiction. Beira would lose densely populated neighbourhoods such as Munhava and Manga, and all the city’s expansion areas. Key facilities such as the city garbage dump, the cemetery and the airport would fall outside of municipal jurisdiction. In an alternative, less radical proposal, Beira would keep 13 neighbourhoods, including Munhava. But in either case, the Municipal Council would lose buildings and facilities that it has built over the past few years with municipal funds.The areas carved out of the city would form a separate Beira district, under an unelected administrator. The permanent secretary of the Sofala government, Claudina Mazolo, claimed that this decision was “irreversible”, and the city would be split in two some time later this year.

Far from being “irreversible”, the decision was quashed by the central government within a week. The Deputy Minister of State Administration, Jose Tsambe, met on Thursday with the mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, and assured him that the city will not be cut in two.A senior source in Simango’s party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), assured  on Friday that the meeting had taken place, and plans to divide Beira had been thrown out. “It’s back to square one”, the MDM source said.This outcome was predictable, since the idea to carve up Beira was flagrantly unconstitutional. Article 274 of the Constitution states that changing the boundaries of any municipality requires prior consultation with the municipal bodies (the mayor, the Municipal Council and the Municipal Assembly). There had been so such consultation.Furthermore, changes in the territorial administration are made by law, and not by administrative fiat. When the government proposed creating 13 new districts, by splitting existing ones, it did not simply issue a decree, but submitted a bill on the matter to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, which passed it into law last year.Clearly dividing Beira, and shoving most of its existing neighbourhoods into a new Beira rural district would also have to be approved by parliament.Had the Sofala provincial government persisted with its illegal plans it could have provoked serious trouble on the streets of Beira, where Simango and the MDM enjoy mass support. In last November’s municipal elections, Simango was re-elected mayor with over 70 per cent of the vote. 

CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION AGAINST POACHING

The WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) has called for urgent international action in the wake of new statistics on elephant poaching in Mozambique.According to an aerial survey commissioned by WWF-Mozambique, up to 900 elephants died in the north of the county over a three year period. The survey of the Quirimbas National Park found that between 480 and 900 elephants died in the area between 2011 and 2013. From the air the researchers saw that almost half the elephants sighted were carcasses. According to Anabela Rodriguez, Country Director of WWF-Mozambique, “the elephant deaths are probably due to illegal hunting and the losses are likely to be devastating to the population”.WWF International’s Policy Expert on Wildlife Trade, Colman O’Criodain lamented, “Mozambique has emerged as one of the main places of the slaughter of elephants and ivory transit in Africa and as a profitable warehouse for transit and export of rhino horn for the Asian markets”. He added, “we need to see urgent action and ongoing commitment to combat these illegal activities”.In April the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, passed a bill dramatically increasing the penalties for poaching, particularly of endangered species, such as rhinoceros or elephants.The law proposes prison sentences of between eight and 12 years for people who kill, without a licence, any protected species, or who use banned fishing gear, such as explosives or toxic substances. The same penalty will apply to people who set forests or woodlands on fire (poachers often use fire to drive animals into the open).Anybody using illegal firearms or snares, even if they do not catch protected species, can be sentenced to two years imprisonment.In addition, those found guilty of the illegal exploitation, storage, transport or sale of protected species will be fined between 50 and 1,000 times the minimum monthly national wage in force in the public administration (at current exchange rates, that would be a fine of between 4,425 and 88,500 US dollars).

Hello friend Emilio...

How you care? And your whole family? I'm fine, thankfully.

But I am totally baffled by a story that began circulating a few days ago. Since it seems that some very bright minds (must have own generators ...) in Sofala decided decrease Beira! Yes, you're quite understand, reduce the area of the city. What does this mean? I mean that part of the city led by MDM and Simango would be reduced to a few blocks and all the rest of the city would become the "district of Beira" governed by an administrator appointed by the State, ie, Frelimo . You gonna tell me that it does not go through the Devil's head. And I agree. But it occurred to one, or more, party members who said he was the father of Mozambican democracy.  For these paternal Democrats remove the MDM part of the territory it won in the ballot box seems perfectly normal. Make all voting, which gave the vote to MDM, those areas that are left out, start to be governed by an administrator Frelimo is democracy at its best. I believe that someone in the dome of the Frelimo party, going on walks, walks to abuse soruma. I see no other explanation ... It seems clear that if this idea is ideótica forward, the population of the border comes to the streets, violently. And we watch the 40 clowns custom agreeing that violence is not that resolve the problems. But violence is not against the Constitution and many other laws, this aberrant idea? Will, if the MDM win the presidential election, will reduce the territory of the country to that building at Julius Nyerere and the entire rest of Mozambique continues to be ruled by Frelimo party?

It's all crazy?

A hug for you than

Machado da GraçaMAIL MORNING - 06/17/2014

MORE GRAPHITE FOUND ON TRITON CONCESSION

The price of shares in the Australian company Triton Minerals increased by over sixty per cent on Wednesday as the company released details of its latest geological observations on its Balama North Project, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.On Wednesday the company revealed that it has once again found “very significant graphitic mineralisation over a considerable thickness at the Nicanda Hill prospect on the Balama North Project”.According to Triton’s managing director, Brad Doyle, the latest finding “has again confirmed the world class potential of the Balama North Project. To intercept an astounding 316 metres cumulative width of graphite mineralisation in a single drill hole and this mineralisation remains open at depth is a very exciting result”.Triton states that “these latest drill results continue to confirm the Company’s belief that the Balama North Project can potentially host a market leading and world class graphite deposit. It is anticipated that this drilling will provide the necessary data to estimate a Mineral Resource for this prospect by early 2015”.

The series of positive results from drilling at the site suggest that Triton has a world class deposit of graphite.The concession sits next to the Balama Graphite and Vanadium Project run by Syrah Resources. According to Syrah, Balama contains far more graphite that the known reserves in the rest of the world.Syrah is at a more advanced stage of exploiting the resources than Triton. It has already entered into an agreement to supply the China Aluminum International Engineering Corporation (Chalieco) with between 80,000 and 100,000 tonnes of graphite per year. Another deal, with British company Asmet, will see it sell between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes per year at a price of one thousand US dollars per tonne. Furthermore, it is in discussion with a third major company and is due to announce the details later this month.Syrah expects to be one of the world’s lowest cost producers and plans to recoup the mine’s hundred million dollar development costs in its first year of production, which could be in 2016.If Triton does have the graphite deposits that the initial findings suggest, Mozambique will become the world’s major source for the mineral, given its low production costs and access to markets through the port of Pemba.Graphite is a form of carbon that is highly valued 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.

FIRST COAL EXPORTS FROM NACALA IN DECEMBER

Mozambican Transport Minister Gabriel Muthisse on Wednesday reiterated that the first exports of coal from the new port under construction at Nacala-a-Velha, in the northern province of Nampula, will take place in December.According to a report in Thursday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, Muthisse, speaking in the western city of Tete at a meeting of his Ministry’s Coordinating Council, said that the Nacala-a-Velha coal terminal will have the capacity to store 1.45 million tonnes of coal.Nacala-a-Velha is opposite the existing port of Nacala on the other side of Nacala Bay. It will be connected to the Moatize coal basin by a 900 kilometre long railway running across southern Malawi, and financed by the Brazilian mining company Vale. The government has signed a concession on the new port and on coal traffic along the railway with the Integrated Nacala Logistics Corridor (CLN), a consortium that is 80 per cent owned by the Brazilian mining giant Vale, and 20 per cent by Mozambique's publicly owned port and rail company, CFM.According to CLN officials, the entire project is costing 4.4 billion US dollars. 

The coal terminal at Nacala-a-Velha will be able to export 18 million tonnes of coal a year.According to Muthisse, the coal trains will be enormous, consisting of 120 wagons pulled by four lomotives. Such a train will be 1.5 kilometres long. CLN is importing 80 locomotives to deal with traffic along the Moatize-Nacala line.By 2015, the line should have the capacity to move 11 million tonnes of cargo a year, rising to 18 million tonnes in 2017.Muthisse told the meeting that those working in transport and communications should feel proud at the contribution they have made to reducing poverty, to social inclusion and cohesion and to wealth production.

SEA LEVEL RISE IN MAPUTO BAY

Sea level rise is a harsh reality in the Bay of Maputo, with coastal erosion eating away at the Xefina archipelago, reports Thursday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.The archipelago today consists of three islands, Xefina Grande, Xefina Pequena and Xefina do Meio. The largest, Xefina Grande, is just five kilometres from Maputo’s Costa do sol beach.In 1942 the Portuguese colonial regime installed artillery on Xefina Grande to defend the coast against possible attack. Those cannons were 600 metres from the shoreline. Today, 72 years later, the five cannons have practically been swallowed up by the sea. In other words, over that period, the sea has advanced 600 metres into Xefina Grande.According to a fisherman named Paulo Mangaze, who accompanied the “O Pais” reporters, up until 2000 Xefina do Meio was joined to Xefina Grande. In the floods of 2000, the island was split in two.

Mangaze refused to take his boat right up to the sinking cannons, because there were once houses here that are now under water and could pose a threat to boats.Xefina was once used as a prison. Mozambican nationalists and railway workers arrested after a 1926 strike were incarcerated here. About 30 people still live on Xefina Grande – even though the island has no school, no shops and so source of fresh water, so that everything must be brought in from the mainland. An elderly native of Xefina, known as Grandma Aida, told the reporters in a resigned tone “This island is going to disappear”.Prominent environmentalist Carlos Serra is worried that she may be right. He told the paper “Intervening in Xefina today is very complicated, but if we do nothing, we risk losing a natural protective barrier for Maputo city”.Xefina offers some protection against the waves of the Indian Ocean for the Maputo coastline. “Imagine what erosion in Maputo would be like if Xefina did not exist”, said Serra.

MOZAMBICAN RUBIES TO BE AUCTIONED IN SINGAPORE

Mozambican rubies are to be auctioned in Singapore, according to Ian Harbottle, Chief Executive Office of the British company Greenfields, which is working in partnership with the Mozambican company Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM). Gemfields describes itself as the world’s largest producer of coloured gemstones. It has specialized in Zambian emeralds and amethysts, and has now branched out into Mozambican rubies.At a Maputo press conference on Tuesday introducing MRM, Harbottle said that the rubies will be auctioned some time in the next fortnight. He claimed that the auction would allow “transparency and fair prices”.“We’re going to hold an auction. We want a fair price and we want the money to come back to the company that produced the stones”, said Harbottle. “The company can pay its taxes, it can pay its works and it can make its investments”. “When we sell the Mozambican rubies, we want every cent to return to Mozambique”, he declared. The ruby mines in Montepuez, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, would become one of Mozambique’s largest taxpayers, Harbottle predicted.We want to help build Mozambique, guaranteeing that we comply with the law and that when we export, we do so legally”, he said. “We are obeying the law. We are paying taxes. Later there will be dividends. These dividends will go the shareholders who made the investment”. Up until 2013, seven million karats of rubies had been mined in Montepuez, and Harbottle said that half of these stones would be sold at the Singapore auction.Rubies vary greatly in price, depending on their quality (which is assessed on factors such as colour, size and cut). Medium quality rubies could cost between 100 and 400 US dollars per carat (a carat, the standard measure for precious stones, is equivalent to 200 milligrams). Top quality rubies fetch much higher prices. The world record price was set at a New York sale in 2005, when a Burmese ruby, of slightly more than eight carats, sold for 2.2 million dollars. Even if the Mozambican stones only fetch 100 dollars a carat, the Singapore auction could raise 350 million dollars.Gemfields says it has invested about 30 million dollars in the Montepuez mines. The chairperson of the board of its partner, MRM, is Samora Machel Junior, son of Mozambique’s first president, and its manager of corporate affairs is Raime Pachinuapa, son of Raimundo Pachinuapa, who was one of the senior guerrilla commanders in Mozambique’s war for independence from Portuguese colonial rule. 

RENAMO HITS CONVOY TWICE IN ONE MORNING

Gunmen of Mozambique’s former rebel movement Renamo on Tuesday morning mounted two attacks on a convoy on the country’s main north-south highway in the central province of Sofala, according to the Mozambican police.The head of public relations of the Sofala provincial police command, Daniel Macuacua, told reporters that both attacks were against the same convoy, which was travelling under military escort from the small town of Muxungue to the Save river, on the boundary with Inhambane province. The first attack came at about 09.15, in the area of Zove, shortly after the convoy had left Muxungue. This was in exactly the same place as the Renamo attack against the Monday morning Muxungue-Save convoy.“After intensive clashes, the bandits fled in disarray, and the convoy continued its journey”, said Macuacua. “But the convoy was attacked again, at about 09.45 by another group of bandits”. The second attack occurred in Muntingoti.Macuacua said that, in the first attack four civilians and one soldier were injured, and in the second two people were injured, one soldier and one civilian. This contradicts the initial reports given on Tuesday by the independent television station STV, which spoke of three people killed as well as seven injured.On Monday Renamo spokesman Antonio Muchanga announced the end of the truce which Renamo had supposedly been observing, on the orders of its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, since 7 May.People wishing to travel overland between the north and south of the country have no choice but to use the Muxungue-Save stretch of road. Should Renamo succeed in closing the road, that would have severe consequences for the Mozambican economy.Macuacua pledged that the defence and security forces will do all in their power to protect the road and guarantee a safe journey for the users. He promised that this task would involve “pursuing the bandits to wherever may be necessary”.

CELL PHONES GO DEAD NEAR TOP SECURITY PRISON

Users of mobile phones living in the vicinity of the Maputo top security prison have complained that for the past three months they have been unable to make or receive calls, reports the independent television station, STV.Reporters went to the area and confirmed that it was impossible to make calls. Residents said that, in order to make use of their phones, they have to walk into other neighbourhoods, at considerable inconvenience.The general belief among the residents is that they are victims of deliberate electronic interference by the prison authorities intended to stop inmates at the prison from using phones. People living in the Machava neighbourhood are thus collateral damage in attempts to prevent dangerous criminals from communicating with the outside world.Prison guards have repeatedly confiscated cell phones which are smuggled in to prisoners, usually by members of their families. But men such as the notorious assassin Momade Assif Abdul Satar (“Nini”), one of the men who ordered the murder of the country’s foremost investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso, in 2000, have continued to use phones. It is suspected that Satar has used these communications to commit further crimes, and the General Commander of the police, Jorge Khalau, even accused him of masterminding the wave of kidnappings that has struck Mozambican cities since late 2011.One of the Machava residents who is now unable to use his phone, Jaime Antonio, made the reasonable suggestion to STV that the authorities should be more rigorous in denying prisoners the use of phones. “They should take the mobile phones away from the prisoners, rather than cutting us all off from the network”, he said.The three mobile phone operators contacted the regulatory body, the National Communications Institute (INCM), and asked it to solve the problem of lack of cell phone coverage in the vicinity of the prison.INCM director Americo Muchanga told STV that the source of interference in cell phone signals “has not been identified.”“We are working to find the source that is causing the problems and solve them”, he said. He declined to make the obvious connection between blocking prisoners’ communications, and what was happening to people who happen to live near the prison.There are similar problems around other jails. People living near the women’s prison at Ndlavela, in the city of Matola, say that they too have not been able to make phone calls for more than three months.