Police saved nosy

Two international journalists who came to Mozambique to investigate the poaching of rhinos, are grappling with the Mozambican justice. According runs in the international press, Torbjörn Selander and Bartholomäus Grill, corresponding Der Spiegel and The African Times, were arrested by the Police accused of spying Republic on 16 February and also risk their lives. According could ascertain the situation was very tense on Saturday with the population of Massingir to create a riot, which came to fear the lynching of the two journalists. The revolt of the population was due to the fact that the journalists had entered the property of an individual to them referenced as poacher, (which is not confirmed) without the presence of this on site. Against Torbjörn Selander and Bartholomäus Grill was raised a self for trespassing and constituted attorney. The PRM denies detained journalists, but put two agents to ensure their safety before the wrath of the population, which sees poaching rhino as a right and your business. Massingir, on the border between Mozambique and the Kruger National Park is known to be an entry point for poaching rhino from Mozambique. This is not the first time that Massingir encounters problems between poachers and the PRM, where people always takes the advantage of stealth, as seen in this activity quickly, or perhaps the only way out of poverty. The two journalists still find themselves in Massingir and arriving at Maputo resorting to the use of a helicopter, as they suffered threats to their physical integrity and were told that if they traveled by road would be killed. We will continue to monitor the situation and came back to inform when we have more news.

SENIOR FRELIMO FIGURES DENOUNCE “AUTONOMOUS REGIONS”

Several senior figures of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party on Monday attacked the proposal for “autonomous regions” or “autonomous provinces” made by the former rebel movement Renamo, making it increasingly unlikely that the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, will approve the promised bill on the matter.As Frelimo central brigades fan out across the provinces, each headed by a member of the party’s Political Commission, they are warning against any attempt to divide the country.Thus in the northern city of Nampula, Filipe Paunde said that the creation of “autonomous regions” would violate the Mozambican constitution “and seeks to hold back the country’s development”.He stressed that all citizens should be aware that Mozambique “is one and indivisible”, and that it is through national unity that living standards have been improved.In Chimoio, capital of Manica province, another Political Commission member, Alcinda Abreu, argued that the creation of autonomous regions is not compatible with the current constitution. The October 15 general elections, which gave Renamo and its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, a slight advantage in some parts of central and northern Mozambique were national, and not regional, elections, she stressed.Dhlakama’s calls for autonomy, Abreu added, “violate national sovereignty and unity, and seek to suggest dividing a country which has always fought for the unity of its people. There are no autonomous regions in Mozambique”.Eneas Comiche, the former mayor of Maputo, and now the chairperson of the parliamentary Plan and Budget Commission, speaking in the southern city of Inhambane, warned citizens “not to get carried away by the speeches of Afonso Dhlakama”.There was no room, he argued, for models of governance “which promote tribalism and regionalism”.Dhlakama himself, in an interview published in last Friday’s issue of the independent weekly “Savana”, argues that “autonomous provinces” are entirely compatible with the constitution, because decentralized local councils, such as the existing 53 municipalities, are already covered by the Constitution, and an autonomous province would just be a large municipality.This ingenious argument is not shared by all Renamo members. The latest issue of the official Renamo publication “A Perdiz” carries an opinion article calling for the abolition of the current Constitution and its replacement by a federal regime.The article claims that Mozambique needs a federal constitution “in order to remove the causes of conflicts”. It claims that “cultural traditions and even specific needs of each zone, each tribe, each province, and each region” have been repressed, leading to “a wave of ill-defined but real violence to reject oppression”.The anonymous author claims that there is only a “false national unity” in Mozambique, disguising “the dominating tendencies of one region, one tribe and above all one party over other Mozambicans”. Routine sneers against “the communists of Frelimo” follow, before the article declares “the Constitution should be changed to allow those who like communism to have a communist government, and those who like the Family to have a governor from Renamo”.It is impossible to say whether this reflects majority opinion in Renamo, but the fact that the article occupies a page and a half in the party’s official publication surely indicates that it is at least a significant trend.

COAL INDIA MAY PULL OUT OF MOZAMBIQUE

The Indian state company Coal India (CIL) is likely to scrap its investment in Mozambique, according to a senior executive in the company, speaking anonymously to the Indian publication “Economic Times”.CIL acquired two blocks, A1 and A2, in the Moatize district of the western Mozambican province of Tete in 2008. It then set up a Mozambican subsidiary, Coal India Africana, to handle exploration and production.For six years everything seemed fine, with a string of optimistic statements from CIL. But now the anonymous CIL executive has claimed that the quality of the coal in the two blocks is so poor that it cannot even be burned by coal-fired Indian power stations.'The reserves in the two blocks do contain carbon, but it is not good enough to be called coal”, he said. “This reserve cannot sustain a 12% rate of return on investment in the medium to long run. Simply put, it is not coal”.He claimed that CIL had been led to believe that 20 per cent of the deposits in the two blocks would be high quality coking coal that could be used in steel making, while the rest was thermal coal that could be used to fuel power plants.He said that after samples from the two blocks had been sent to India for analysis, the quality of the coal was found to be “extremely inferior” – so much so that it could not even be described as coal. Moatize is known to sit on huge coal deposits, some of which are currently being exploited by the Brazilian mining giant, Vale, and by a second Indian company, International Coal Ventures Limited (ICVL), which last year purchased Rio Tinto’s Mozambican coal assets.If the anonymous executive is to be believed, CIL was unlucky enough to strike a part of Moatize which, defying the geology of the rest of the region, contains no coal.Meanwhile, ICVL, which is also owned by the Indian state, is pushing ahead with plans to invest two billion US dollars in Mozambican coal. This includes plans to mine 13 million tonnes of coal annually, a project to transform coal into liquid fuels, and a power station to be built at the mouth of the Benga mine in Moatize district.

POWER RESTORED TO NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE

The Mozambican electricity company, EDM, on Monday restored the power supply to northern Mozambique, after a month long power cut, caused by catastrophic flooding in the central province of Zambezia.A massive flood on the Licungo river on 12 January swept away ten pylons in Mocuba district on the transmission line carrying power from the Cahora Bassa dam to the north. This deprived the northern provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Cabo Delgado and the northern districts of Zambezia of electricity.EDM has installed a temporary alternative line, using wooden pylons. Because of the impossibility of approaching the area overland, even using four wheel drive vehicles, the pylons were lowered into place using a cargo helicopter hired from South Africa.EDM had initially hoped to restore the power supply by the end of January, but continued heavy rains in Zambezia made this impossible, and the electricity could not be switched back on, using the alternative line, until Monday morning.The other major disruption to the Mozambican economy caused by the Zambezia floods is the interruption to traffic along the main north-south highway (ENI), which was cut in five places. The worst damage was to the bridge carrying the road across the Licungo at Mocuba town. Parts of the bridge were swept away at both its northern and southern ends. The National Roads Administration (ANE) is now forecasting that provisional repairs to the bridge, allowing traffic to flow across it, will be complete by Sunday.Another bridge on ENI, which was swept away near Nampevo, has been repaired with a dirt bypass, which is undergoing constant repairs due to the continuing rains. Temporary repairs have also been made to the smaller breaks in the road.

WHAT Dhlakama WANT?

While regicide me the proper course of dialogue between the leader of Renamo and the Government of Nyusi, I consider important comment briefly on said "autonomous regions" idea put forward by Renamo, which she aims to overcome the current crisis post-election.To begin with, I consider important proceed to a kind of hermeneutic discourse, to understand the speech and the person who Mario anunciaTomas, person whose analysis has inspired me in recent days, reminds us that "Dhlakama should be interpreted" (Radio Mozambique, hotline, February 7, 2015). For him, the terms and the language used by him, if understood as such, frighten and run the risk of "turn it into a Leviathan". I prefer another term, we risk turning it into a Werewolf.Now when you do not have the answers to the vaunted proposal, I am still interested in understanding what the proposal on "autonomous regions" mean in fact.

• You will want to split Mozambique in north, central and south, with a President of the Autonomous Region in each of them? Better is this a temporary decision or not?

• You can establish autonomous administrative regions without the people to be heard in referendum?

• What model of autonomy is intended? Federalism? And that relationship with the central government?

• Does the Renamo even want are autonomous regions or provinces with governors and elected provincial assemblies and constituted in accordance with the election results?

At least it is clear that Dhlakama wants to rule in the provinces where it won, including Tete, Sofala, Zambezia and Manica, so 4 provinces and not 7 as has been publicized.

• How he wants to rule? Naming governors?

• Through the election of governors, the similarity of the municipalities?

• What are the implications of this model for Constitute the Republic?

• What other laws should be changed? Suffice the bill Renamo for all to overcome?

• And the electoral law? And the law of the local organs of state? And other laws?

• How long can this transformation?

Matias De Jesus Jr. reminds us of the word "Wungwissar" for one Ndau amalgam aportuguesado to refer to the act of making someone a clown. The Brazilians say "make fun with your face." I sincerely hope that this Draft Law scene of autonomous regions is not just to "Ungwissar" there in Parliament! "

My first impression is that the pace of work that parliament has accustomed us, this subject is so large that it can take a long time. We're almost in March ...

The paths to peace

The celebrations of the February 3 Let's disclose how Frelimo and his government are deeply divided on approach to political dialogue with Renamo. On the one hand, the President and his Prime Minister, we have the serenity image and unconditional opening to talk to Afonso Dhlakama. On the other, the Party President, Secretary-General and closest cronies, the bleak picture, nervous, aggressive and impatient. Magnanimous, and oblivious to all the noise that his own party does, around the subject, Filipe Nyusi stays true and consistent in his inaugural address and continues to surprise everyone and everything for their unexpected firmness even to those who expected they should bows. Had long since become apparent that the successor of Guebuza would not have an easy life in the direction of the state. By 15 January this year, and for 50 years, had been the very founders of Frelimo to give the cards at all and, at the time of handing over power to the new generation, Nyusi seemed to them the choice of lower risk, one that, by his past, not configured to initiate major changes to the course that best elesachavam the country.The problem is that Filipe Nyusi is leaving up precisely the opposite of what Frelimo (or just some of its most prominent members?) Expect. Starting with the reliever and messianic inaugural address. The new president came with a crash, the front door, when in some scripts if you had booked the back door.The message that "my boss is the people" is much deeper than some interpreted it and is intended more for within the party than out.When, as a block, the party shows signs of impatience and responds aggressively to the inflammatory speeches of Dhlakama, as it turned out, on February 3 with former President Armando Guebuza, is a clear sign that someone in Frelimo "is up in paints "with the ravings of Renamo leader and the consequences of them can come to the country and will be going on the idea that it is necessary to activate a Plan B to resolve the matter. How about a year and a half, when attacked unexpectedly Santugira.For now, Filipe Nyusi showed that it is unaffected by the pressure that his strategy is precisely reach out to Renamo leader to convince him to leave the erratic way he got himself into and to return to normal. The old adage "the alternative to dialogue is the dialogue itself." A position that remains valid points Nyusi, a president who many assumed lamb, but is proving to be a real wolf. At least for now. Filipe Nyusi promised in its possession, build consensus in difficult times, leadership in Mozambique where, ever, brothers turn against brothers is that pretext; a permanent and true dialogue. He promised to seek the President Chissano the spirit of tolerance and reconciliaçã the Mozambican family.In less than a month of head of state, Nyusi facing the first major test of his leadership, faces the first difficult time and the opportunity to begin to implement these promises, even if it means putting yourself in the antipodes of ideas his party. To convince the ultra-radical party, without the leadership of it, is the first step.(Jeremias Langa in "O PAÍS")

PS:

This week, the Bar Association suggested that the Attorney General's Office should intervene and prosecuting Dhlakama for their pronouncements. We disagree with this idea completely. Hold Dhlakama would be worse than the ailment the amendment. We are all equal before the law, stated in the Constitution. But how wisely reminds us George Orwell, there are more equal than others.Afonso Dhalama is not António Muchanga. You look at the huge legion of his followers and It can be seen the potential for instability in the country could plunge to go down this route. The Dhlakama problem is political and in this way should be resolved.

Source: Online Country - 05/02/2014

Mambas recruit Germans to attack Uganda

The national coach, John Chissano, Mozambique expects to have three players born in Germany to the tie with Uganda, whose first leg will be played on the afternoon of February 21 this year in Maputo. The game has for the first round of access to the African Games Congo-2015.O Afrin field, in Machava, will be the venue of the first leg of the first round of access to the African Games Congo-2015. The second leg will be held two weeks later, Uganda. The winner of this contest will face Ghana, the last step to enter the JA September and if you qualify, fight for a space for access to the 2016 Olympic Games.For these games, the coach wants to rely on all Mozambicans players to act abroad, three of which play in Germany, particularly Ronny Marcos, Hamburg, Jeffrey (BSV) and Gelício Banze (Dynamo Dresden).

- I wish I could count on these players, especially those playing in Germany, expressed João Chissano. Continuing his speech, the coach said that they do not know the Mozambican reality. This is an opportunity to begin to acclimatise themselves. Know the country and our habits, for they were born and raised in Germany, expressed the técnico.Além these players, who are children of Mozambican emigrants, hopes to have Clésio Baúque (Benfica of Portugal), Faisal Bangal (Atalanta Italy), Witti (Nacional da Madeira, Portugal) and Edson Almeida (Union of Madeira, Portugal). However, because the February 21 date is not FIFA, João Chissano fears be without such the players, but also expect some difficulties to form a group capable of facing the round smoothly, since operating in Mozambique not are competing and playing outside rely on the goodwill of the clubs they represent.

- It will be a very difficult round. We will have to work to take solutions to present a strong team. Players operating in Mozambique can make a round without having made a single game. The playing outside have pace, but you must wait for the understanding of their clubs, Chissano said.

GORONGOSA ANTI-POACHING

The Anti-Poaching Unit of the Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique in 2014 seized about 180 homemade guns from local poachers, and removed over 3,300 snares and traps. The Administrator of the park, Mateus Mutemba, declared on Thursday, when signing an anti-poaching protocol with the Portuguese Entreposto Group, that he is worried by the fact that an industry manufacturing these lethal artefacts is still thriving in the area surrounding the park. “Year after year we register growth in the number of poaching incidents”, he said. “Last year we arrested about 250 poachers. There is a recurrent trend to manufacture these weapons and use them in poaching”.Unlike what is happening in the Niassa Reserve in the far north, so far there is no record of military firearms being used to decimate wild life in Gorongosa. “But we don’t make a great distinction between weapons of war and home-made guns”, said Mutemba, “because they all have the same purpose, which is to kill our animals, and to threaten the life of our wardens while they are doing their job of protecting the Park”. Home-made guns could be very powerful, he noted. Last year one of the locally manufactured firearms which Park wardens had seized was powerful enough to bring down an elephant. In 2014, the park lost three of its elephants to poachers.

At the ceremony, the Entreposto Group donated 125,000 US dollars to the Anti-Poaching Unit. The protocol covers a five year period, with Entreposto disbursing 5,000 dollars per year.The aim of the protocol is to increase the effectiveness of patrols, covering even the most remote areas in the park, and to ensure rapid intervention in neutralising poachers. Other goals are to prevent illegal logging within the park, to avoid conflict between wild animals and communities (some of whom are still living inside the park boundaries), to step up the detection and collection of snares, and to make communities aware of the importance of preserving biodiversity.Entreposto Group director Jose Cardoso said the company intended to make a long term contribution to the Anti-Poaching Unit. Among the immediate uses of the money, he said, would be to acquire a patrol boat that can operate on the lakes and waterways of the park, to develop advanced and specialist training programmes for the wardens, and provide them with uniforms, boots and walkie-talkie radios. With the Entreposto money, Mutemba said, “we intend to improve our capacity to confront the poachers. We have a force of 120 men who are protecting the Park day and night. We need to step up their training and improve the equipment they use”. This year, aerial patrols will also be introduced, Mutemba added. The Park has acquired a light aircraft, giving it the capacity to spot illegal activity from the air.The Gorongosa National Park covers an area of about 4,000 square kilometres in Sofala province, and is located at the southern end of the Great African Rift Valley.

The possible democracy?

Our political system lacks some retouching. Dhlakama is right when he speaks of the islands, but is wrong to talk of dividing the country. This country is indivisible. Not a politician who will divide this country to accommodate your wishes. Where understand Dhlakama?

I understand and give reason to Dhlakama when he speaks of the autonomous regions. Again understand and give reason to Dhlakama. But are not autonomous regions that Renamo claims. Renamo claim rule where he won. Is wrong? For me it has. If you do not want federation, then we must move towards a situation where the governors are elected. What does it mean? It means that the opposition will govern where he won, or will elect their governors, being thus its provincial government.

And since there is a halfway because Frelimo already set a precedent by creating provincial assemblies. Now the Provincial Assemblies can only make sense when provincial governments are elected as members of the Provincial Assemblies. We can not have an elected Provincial Assembly which oversees a named provincial government. If we have the municipal elected assemblies, with binding decisions, overseeing the elected municipal governments and have the Assembly of the Republic elected, also with binding decisions, which oversees the Central Government Elected, we also have a Provincial Assembly elected, with binding decisions, the oversee the elected provincial government. At this time, the provincial assemblies, though elected, their decisions are not only not binding, but also are organs with a null action.Second, there are overlapping functions, because the provincial governments are overseen by the Assembly of Deputies of the Republic, elected in these constituencies and are further monitored by the Provincial Assemblies, the latter with non-binding decisions.If governors were elected at this time, Renamo would be the rule in the province where he won and which holds the majority in the provincial assemblies. Frelimo and MDM would be opposition. Similarly, Renamo and the MDM would be opposition where Frelimo won. That is, Frelimo would form the central government under the most votes obtained, but the provincial governments would share with Renamo.(L.Mabunda in f.book)

President Nyusse not imposes conditions to Dhlakama

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi declared in Maputo on Tuesday that he is willing to speak with Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo, following the latter’s threats to set up a separatist “Republic of Central and Northern Mozambique”.Nyusi was speaking to reporters after laying a wreath at the Monument to the Mozambican Heroes, in honour of Heroes’ Day, which commemorates the assassination on 3 February 1969 of Eduardo Mondlane, the founder and first president of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), generally regarded as the architect of Mozambican national identity. Dhlakama has made a string of inflammatory speeches promising to carve out “within days” a separate republic in six northern and central provinces, of which he would be president. Nyusi said that the only weapon the government would use against these belligerent declarations is dialogue. “I am ready, right now I am prepared”, he said, “because the people must be certain that we are going to live in peace. I have given a sign of my willingness to talk – right now, if possible. Only by talking are we going to reach an understanding”.“Through conversation, through dialogue, we can reach conclusion about what we think is useful for Mozambicans”, he added. “This is the great weapon we are going to use, dialogue and speaking among Mozambicans”.Nyusi declared that he would respect the Constitution, since he had sworn to defend the Constitution when he took the oath of office in January.As he had first stressed in his inauguration speech, he insisted that his governance would be one of inclusion, by which he meant giving opportunities to all Mozambicans to participate in the creation and distribution of wealth.Nyusi called on all Mozambicans to value the legacy of Eduardo Mondlane and all the other heroes who had sacrificed their lives for an independent and sovereign Mozambique. “I would like to take advantage of this moment to call for peace, this peace which makes us live and develop Mozambique”, he said. “Our country belongs to all Mozambicans and so, in this moment of reflection, it is very important that we find each other and be together”. Nyusi’s predecessor, Armando Guebuza, did not mince his words when reporters asked him what he thought of Dhlakama’s promises of a “Republic of the Centre and North” – he described them as “disastrous”. “When the entire people is speaking about construction, when the people are trying to solve the problems of those who are suffering because of natural disasters, he (Dhlakama) is persisting with a destructive discourse”, said Guebuza. “He doesn’t want to make a contribution for our country to live in peace”.

In contrast to Dhlakama’s call for separatism, Guebuza stressed that Mozambique is “one and indivisible”, with no place for speeches that encourage violence and instability.The chairperson of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Veronica Macamo, told reporters that despite the Renamo boycott ordered by Dhlakama, the Assembly was functioning.The deputies elected from Frelimo and from the second opposition party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), had taken their seats and so there was no problem of meeting the quorum of half the elected deputies plus one (126).“The Assembly has the majority necessary to function”, said Macamo. “We must just urge our colleagues from Renamo to take their seats. They made promises to the Mozambican people and they can only keep those promises if they are inside the Assembly”. Members of Frelimo and of the MDM attended the ceremony and paid tribute to Mondlane and other fallen heroes, but, as usual with commemorative dates, Renamo boycotted the event.