“To the consolidation of peace in Mozambique and throughout the world”

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Sunday announced that he will formally invite Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the country’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, to a meeting intended to seek effective peace in the country.Nyusi made the announcement during a service in central Maputo of the Brazilian Pentecostal sect, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), in response to request from an IURD pastor.“Here I have been asked to pay more attention to the peace dossier”, said Nyusi. “I accept, because this is a promise I have already made. And I tell you that tomorrow (Monday) I shall issue a formal invitation to the Renamo leader so that we can talk”. “Our differences and our ideas are less important than the interests of the people”, he added. “They people want peace and tranquility. This I will do. The people is not on one side. It is on all sides. The people also include those who follow the President of Renamo. And let these two people, all of them, join together and form the Mozambican people, who want peace and who want growth”. Nyusi said that peace is a condition and a means to guarantee, political, social and economic stability. “With peace and in peace, the energies of peoples are channeled towards promoting the development that will lead them to spiritual and material well-being”, the President said. “With peace, each Mozambican citizen will concentrate on satisfying his individual and collective needs, without fears of any kind”. He believed that, with peace, all Mozambicans will be concerned to do more and better for the success of Mozambique as a nation and for the welfare of its people. Spiritual well-being, he insisted, must be accompanied with material well-being, which is only achieved through work and dedication. He urged the IURD to continue with its “excellent work” , and to go on contributing “to the consolidation of peace in Mozambique and throughout the world”. Nyusi said he is well aware that Mozambique is a lay state, resting on a separation between the state and religions. Nonetheless, he said there is a sound and healthy relationship between the state and religious bodies, who have been the government’s partner in implementing public policies, particularly in the social area. Since he took office in January, Nyusi has met twice with Dhlakama. Both occasions were in February, and Nyusi succeeded in persuading Dhlakama to end the Renamo boycott of the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.Since then, Dhlakama has not set foot in Maputo, Instead he has repeatedly toured northern and central Mozambique, often threatening to “take by force” the six provinces he claims Renamo should rule.

ATTACK POLICE IN TETE

Armed men, believed to be members of the illegal militia of the former rebel movement Renamo, on Saturday mounted five ambushes against a unit of the Mozambican police in Moatize district, in the western province of Tete.The gunmen were able to attack repeatedly because along the road they placed 12 barricades made of tree trunks, at intervals of one and a half kilometers. The ambushes occurred at about 09.00 when the police unit was travelling to the area of Monjo, to relieve the policemen stationed there.The spokesperson for the Tete provincial police command, Deolinda Matsinhe, cited by Radio Mozambique on Sunday, said the policemen came under attack in the locality of Ndande when they left their vehicles in order to remove the obstacles. In the exchanges of fire no members of the police unit were killed or injured. Matsinhe said she did not know whether the Renamo gunmen had suffered any casualties.She said one of the attacks occurred in an inhabited area and, with many people in the vicinity, “it was difficult for our force to react, since they ran the risk of hitting members of the public”. She said the police managed to relieve the unit in Monjo, The unit that came under fire has remained in the area “to guarantee public order, security and tranquility”.This is the latest in a spate of Renamo attacks against police units in Moatize and the neighbouring district of Tsangano. Such attacks are flagrant violations of the agreement on a cessation of military hostilities signed on 5 September last year by the then President, Armando Guebuza, and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.

“BY FORCE”

A meeting of demobilized fighters from Mozambique’s former rebel movement Renamo ended in the central city of Quelimane on Friday, with renewed threats to take over “by force” six northern and central provinces.The declaration from the meeting, read out by prominent Renamo parliamentarian Carlos Manuel, and broadcast by the independent television station STV, contained three decisions.One was to set up a new barracks for the Renamo militia in Morrumbala district in Zambezia province. The second announced that Renamo will set up its own police force, while the third reiterated Renamo’s determination to take control of Manica, Sofala, Tete, Zambezia, Nampula and Niassa provinces, by force if necessary.Renamo has been threatening to seize the six provinces since April, but so far nothing at all has happened, despite insistent claims by Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama that “we shall govern this year”.Dhlakama himself explained that the new police force would be based on the veterans of Renamo’s war, but might also include new recruits. The Renamo veterans were all demobilized in 1994, over two decades ago, and so could hardly be described as young.Dhlakama did not explain how he intends to pay or equip the Renamo police. Indeed, the sources of Renamo’s current funding have never been explained. The allowance Renamo receives from the state budget by virtue of its parliamentary group, is not enough to pay for Dhlakama’s constant travels round the country, and for his existing militia, let alone for new forces and new barracks.At the meeting Dhlakama handed over a cheque for five million meticais (about 128,200 US dollars) for the Renamo demobilized. He insisted that this was not money from Renamo but was a personal donation from his own funds.

DHLAKAMA SUSPENDS DIALOGUE

Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique’s former rebel movement Renamo, on Sunday announced he was suspending the long-running dialogue between his party and the government.   The dialogue, which began in April 2013, was held at Renamo’s request, with an agenda provided by Renamo.  After 114 rounds of talks, there is almost nothing to show for the dialogue. In particular, Renamo has refused to disarm. Despite the agreement signed on 5 September last year on a cessation of military hostilities, the Renamo militia has not been disbanded.  Dhlakama announced the end of the dialogue on Saturday, at a rally in the central city of Quelimane, following a two day conference of demobilized Renamo fighters.  Filmed by the independent television station STV, he justified his decision to suspend the dialogue on the grounds that “the government does not want Renamo to form part of the governance of the country”.   Dhlakama went further and declared he is not prepared “to take tea with (President Filipe) Nyusi. Never again!”   When Dhlakama made this categorical statement, he could not have known that on Sunday Nyusi, speaking at a religious service, would promise to invite him for a formal meeting “to discuss an effective peace”.   Dhlakama also announced that Renamo is fully prepared to begin governing in the six provinces (Manica, Sofala, Tete, Zambezia, Nampula and Niassa) where he claimed victory in the 15 October general elections.   “We did everything during the negotiations in the political dialogue with the government to reach a good conclusion about our insertion in the governance of the county, but it is clear that Frelimo doesn’t want that”, he said.  In fact, Renamo’s “insertion into the governance of the country” was not on the agenda of the dialogue, and was not so much as mentioned. Dhlakama’s demand to take over six provinces dates from February of this year, and was never put on the dialogue table.   Dhlakama was also annoyed that the government has withdrawn the cars it had lent to the Renamo delegation attending the weekly dialogue rounds, claiming that this showed “lack of consideration and contempt” for Renamo members.  “Citizens of other nationalities are valued more than the Mozambican militants of Renamo”, he claimed. “We never needed Frelimo’s cars”, he added. “This decision reveals, above all, their despair, because they thought they would manage to corrupt our delegation”.  Since it was Renamo that requested the dialogue, it is hard to understand why the government lent the Renamo delegation cars in the first place – particularly as Renamo receives a substantial subsidy from the state budget based on the size of its parliamentary group.   The meeting of the Renamo demobilized decided to set up another barracks, referred to as “a general staff”, in Morrumbala district, in the central province of Zambezia, which would house the demobilized troops, while they awaited “future missions”.   A representative of the Renamo demobilized, Victor Viandro, cited by the independent newssheet “Mediafax” claimed that this was not a preparation for returning to war. During the meeting, he added, Dhlakama himself had threatened to resign as Renamo commander, if the demobilized opted for war.  However, Dhlakama has repeatedly threatened to take power in the six provinces he wants “by force”, and it is hard to see much difference between seizing power by force, and returning to war.

RENAMO DEMANDS SHARE-OUT OF ECONOMIC POSITIONS

Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has demanded a share-out of positions in companies owned by, or participated in by the state, just as it had earlier demanded a share-out of senior military and police positions. The demand came on Monday, at the 114th session of the apparently interminable dialogue between government and Renamo delegations.  The dialogue has now moved onto the fourth and final point of its agenda, simply labelled “Economic Questions”. The dialogue moved onto this point over a month ago, on 13 July, but only now has Renamo submitted any proposal. The delay is extraordinary. For the entire agenda for the dialogue was designed over two years ago by Renamo. Yet in July, Renamo told the government delegation it had been “too busy” to draft specific proposals.

Renamo had proposed this point in April 2013. The dialogue was being held at Renamo’s request, using an agenda drawn up by Renamo. Yet it seemed that Renamo threw in the point about “economic questions” without having the faintest idea what it wanted to discuss.

On Monday, the Renamo proposal finally took shape – and was entirely unacceptable to the government. At the press conference following the talks, the head of the government delegation, Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco, told reporters that Renamo had demanded “parity” in public companies.

The Renamo document (which has not yet been made public) “clearly shows a desire to politicize economic matters”, said Pacheco. Renamo wanted a share-out of economic positions “between the parties represented in parliament, excluding other Mozambicans”. The demand for a political division of positions in companies owned by the state was in clear contradiction to Renamo’s own demand for a separation between political parties and the state, Pacheco added. For his part, the head of the Renamo delegation, parliamentary deputy Saimone Macuiana, called for an “equitable division” of public resources. “The principle cannot continue according to which only those who hold the red cards of the ruling Frelimo Party can have access to resources”, he said. “Our proposal is that all Mozambicans, particularly members of Renamo, should benefit from these resources”.  The delegations also discussed implementation of last September’s agreement on the cessation of military hostilities, but once again made no advance on the key issue of disarming and demobilizing the Renamo militia. Renamo was using alleged attacks by government forces against its men in Tete province as an excuse for further delays.

“We still have no way to integrate men of Renamo’s residual forces into the army and the police, because Renamo insists that interventions are being made against its forces”, said Pacheco.

As for the declaration agreed to by both sides on 23 June on the separation of the state from political parties, an impasse remains on what further steps should be taken. Renamo wants the document presented as a fait accompli to the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, which would be expected to rubber-stamp it (which is what happened with the amendments to the electoral legislation in February 2014). The government, however, retorts that, if Renamo wants the document to be passed by the Assembly, then the Renamo parliamentary group can present it. At the end of the Monday session, Renamo returned five cars which the government had lent its delegation for use during the dialogue. The government had demanded them back, and so Macuiana handed the keys over to Pacheco. He did so under protest, but admitted “we can’t keep the cars when the owner wants them back”. This was the first public reference to the fact that the government has been assisting Renamo with transport, in addition to paying an allowance to the members of the Renamo delegation for attending meetings.  The mediators in the dialogue once again called on the outstanding military issues to be referred to a meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhakama. Speaking for the mediators, prominent academic Lourenco do Rosario said that the two delegations had shown they were quite incapable of reaching consensus on the military issues. “It is our perception that no solution is going to emerge from the dialogue table”, he said. “We cannot see any solution that we can suggest to the two delegations to solve the military question”. So the only thing to do was to kick the issue upstairs. “These questions should be remitted to higher bodies”, said Rosario. “They are very sensitive matters and I can see no solution, unless there is a clear mandate from the two leaders, Filipe Nyusi and Afonso Dhlakama”.  As for the final agenda point, on economic questions, the mediators believed this should not be debated merely between the government and Renamo, but by all of Mozambican society.

“THOSE WHO INNOVATE WIN”

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Monday urged the publicly owned cell phone company m-Cel (Mocambique Celular) to improve its investment and marketing strategies, in order to face the highly competitive environment in the mobile telephony market.Rosario issued this warning while making what he described as a “routine visit” to the m-Cel headquarters in Maputo, through which the government hoped to understand the operations of the company that was the pioneer in this field.The Prime Minister also urged m-Cel to invest in technological modernisation. “In competition, those who innovate the most win and those who don’t innovate lose”, he said. “Those who have the most highly motivated staff win, and those who don’t have them lose. Those who promote investment win, and those who do not, lose”.After meeting with the top m-Cel management, the Minister of Transport and Communications, Carlos Mesquita, who was accompanying Rosario, declared “this operator has enormous challenges ahead of it. These are challenges which must be faced seriously in order for the company to follow developments and compete”. Mesquita noted there had been “a slight delay in the investment programme in the last three years. Things must be speeded up. The company must also take into account human development from the career structures to technological conditions”.

He added that the government, in partnership with m-Cel, is assessing measures to regulate the operational methods of the competing companies, so as to ensure that there is no form of unfair competition in the Mozambican mobile telephony market.Mesquita admitted that m-Cel is in financial difficulties which require “careful treatment”. He called for “a courageous look at the operational costs, at the structures and at the whole chain of commercial marketing”.He rejected the idea of selling off m-Cel shares. Instead the state should find some other form of financial participation to recapitalize the company. The sale of shares would be “a last resort”.At the meeting with the m-Cel management, “we were given to understand that the shareholder, in this case the state, should participate or arrange forms of financing, through the various models that exist, to capitalize the company so that it can continue to invest”, said Mesquita.The public telecommunications company TDM owns 74 per cent of the shares in m-Cel, and the remaining 26 per cent are in the hands of the government’s Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE). Last week the IGEPE chairperson, Apolinario Panguene, categorically denied that IGEPE was considering selling any of its shares. In the early days of mobile telephony in Mozambique, m-Cel held a monopoly, but it now faces strong competition and a tariff war from two other companies – the South African Vodacom, and Movitel, which is a subsidiary of the Vietnamese company Viettel.

CONTAMINATED CHICKENS INCINERATED

The Mozambican customs service on Monday destroyed four tonnes of frozen chickens that had entered the country illegally and were found to be unfit for consumption. There were 3,990 chickens, each weighing 1.1 kilos, packed into 399 boxes. Customs seized them in Namaacha district, near the border with Swaziland, about three weeks ago, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”. The chickens had come from Swaziland, but had apparently evaded the official border crossing and had been smuggled into the country. When the smugglers found they were being pursued by an armed customs unit, they abandoned the truck and fled into the bush. Nonetheless, Customs was able to identify the owner of the merchandise, and sent him a summons, which he has so far ignored.Tests on the chickens, undertaken in laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, showed that they contained a high level of dangerous bacteria, and thus were unfit for consumption. Customs believed it had no option but to incinerate the chickens.The chickens had a customs value of 403,700 meticais (about 10.600 US dollars), and should have paid around 163,000 meticais in customs duties. The importer of this illicit merchandise will be liable to pay a heavy fine, and the Customs Tribunal could even sentence him to a prison term.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO FIGHT AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE

Mozambican religious leaders say they are ready to work on reducing the level of child marriage in the country.Speaking at a Maputo press conference on Tuesday, Bernardo Ndimande, chairperson of the Inter-Religious Alliance for Advocacy and Social Development (AIRDES), said 120 religious leaders are expected to attend the first forum on child marriage due to be held in the southern city of Matola on 26-27 August. The Forum will draw up a declaration formalising the commitment of the various religious denominations to the fight against child marriage. Ndimande said the hope was that religious bodies will actively spread the message among society persuading parents to prevent their daughters from marrying while they are still children.  Mozambique has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, and this is regarded as one of the main reasons for girls dropping out of school. A report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) last year said that 48 per cent of girls in Mozambique marry before their 18th birthday, and a shocking 18 per cent marry before they are 15 years old.Child marriage leads to pregnancy at an early age, with all the risks this entails for the life and health of the mother and her baby  .Ndimande believed that mobilising religious leaders against child marriage could have a major impact. “The role of the religious leaders in this action is of fundamental importance because a religious leader is always in contact with society”, he claimed. “In these contacts, he can leave messages, and appeal to the community against child marriage”.  He wanted to see a tougher line from the country’s parliament the Assembly of the Republic in drawing up the legal framework to fight against child marriage. “All actions in the fight against premature marriage should have a uniform approach”, he said, “and if the Assembly were to draw up a law in their regard, that would be of added value”.

MOZAMBIQUE ELECTED TO HEAD SADC SECURITY BODY

The heads of state summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), meeting in Gaberone on Monday, elected Mozambique to chair the SADC defence and security body, generally referred to as the troika.The outcoming chairperson, South Africa, remains a member of the troika, while the new, incoming member is Tanzania.Botswanan president Ian Khama takes over the rotating presidency of SADC from his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe. Swaziland becomes the organization’s deputy chair – which means that Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, will head SADC in 2016-17. Handing over the chairmanship of the troika to Mozambique, South African President Jacob Zuma said 'I am pleased to report that we have developed a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy, to ensure our preparedness in confronting these threats facing the continent and the world today. Similarly we are addressing other threats to our regional stability such as the risks of natural disasters, poverty and underdevelopment”.

'As a region we have committed ourselves to ensuring that our regional early warning system is improved to ensure that it provides effective and efficient alerts to potential areas of insecurity and instability', Zuma said.A key theme of the summit had been the industrialization of southern Africa. Speaking to the reporters who had accompanied him to Gaberone, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said “it became clear at this meeting that implementing the SADC industrialization programme implies raising more funds and recruiting human resources who can carry out the task. The money can only come from production and from contributions”. The report to the summit noted that while average world growth last year was 3.4 per cent, the SADC region grew by five per cent.

Inflation in the region fell from 6.6 per cent in 2013 to 5.7 per cent in 2014, said Nyusi, while the region’s indebtedness fell from 41.2 to 39.8 per cent of GDP.

The summit also looked at food security in the region, concluding that 24 million people in southern Africa are a risk of hunger, including 150,000 in Mozambique

Margaret Nyirenda, head of SADC’s Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Division, told the summit that SADC is facing a deficit of about six million tonnes of grain, due largely to the drought which hit parts of the region in the 2014-15 agricultural year.  Drought struck at Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and southern Angola. Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar were also affected by floods.   Nyusi said the summit also dicussed the region’s growing shortage of electricity. “Southern Africa is facing a deficit of about 8,000 megawatts of power”, he said, “which is required to make various projects viable”.  In Mozambique’s case, the President said, the priorities were the coal fired power stations which are on the drawing boards of several of the coal mining companies in Tete province, and two new hydro-electric power stations on the Zambezi river. One of these is a north bank power station at Cahora Bassa, complementing the existing power station on the south bank. The second is the new dam and power station proposed at Mpanda Nkua, some 60 kilometres downstream from Cahora Bassa.  “Only with electricity can we make the SADC industrialization programme viable in order to solve the problems of poverty”, said Nyusi. “But money is needed for this, which can only come from work, from taxes and from contributions”.

GOVERNMENT REVIVES ELECTRICITY PROJECTS UNIT

The Mozambican government on Tuesday relieved Gildo Sibumbe of his responsibilities as chairperson of the publicly-owned electricity company, EDM, and immediately re-allocated him to a revived electricity Project Implementation Technical Unit (UTIP). Speaking to reporters at the end of the weekly meting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Pedro Couto, said that a second former chairperson of EDM, Augusto de Sousa Fernando, will also work at UTIP. UTIP’s task, Couto said, is to speed up investment projects in electricity generation and transmission. He mentioned in particular the planned “backbone” of the national electricity grid. This will be a new transmission line from Tete province to Beira and Maputo. Talked about for years, it has not so far gone beyond the stage of preliminary studies. Currently power from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi flows directly from the dam town of Songo to the Apollo sub-station in South Africa, since the South African electricity company Eskom is the main client for Cahora Bassa power. 

No Cahora Bassa power goes directly to Maputo. Instead, Maputo and all of southern Mozambique receives its electricity via an Eskom transmission line. It is treated as Cahora Bassa power and EDM pays the Cahora Bassa operating company, HCB, for this electricity. The planned new line will end this clumsy arrangement. It will also be necessary to add more transmission capacity as other electricity generation projects in Tete come on stream. These include a second power station at Cahora Bassa, a new dam and power station at Mpanda Nkua, 60 kilometres downstream from Cahora Bassa, and coal fired power stations planned by mining companies.“In the energy sector there is a series of strategic electricity generation and transmission projects which must be developed during this five year period (2015-2019)”, said Couto. That made it urgent “to revive UTIP so that it can systematically begin the work of checking the state of each of these projects”. UTIP, he added, must deepen existing project studies, propose any necessary innovations, undertake viability studies and, eventually, guarantee the start of implementation. The projects listed in the government’s Five Year Programme, Couto insisted, must at least be started during the government’s term of office.The Tete-Maputo “backbone”, he said, is still at an initial phase of studies, but the government was determined that construction should begin during this five year period. “We want to speed up the project”, said Couto, stressing the importance of making electricity available for development projects. According to President Filipe Nyusi, speaking at the end of Monday’s summit in Gaberone of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the region is currently facing an electricity deficit of about 8,000 megawatts. Much of this could be supplied by Mozambique, if the necessary investment is made in hydropower. The Mepanda Nkua dam alone would add 1,500 megawatts to Mozambique’s generating capacity, and a north bank power station at Cahora Bassa a further 1,000 megawatts.On Tuesday, Nyusi also relieved Joao Machatine of his duties as Deputy Minister of Public Works. The government then immediately appointed Machatine as general director of the country’s relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), replacing Joao Ribeiro.

MOZAMBICAN GOVERNMENT MAKES TACHOGRAPHS MANDATORY

The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved a decree obliging long distance bus and truck drivers to spend no more than four hours uninterrupted at the wheel, in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents on the country’s roads. Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Deputy Health Minister Mouzinho Saide, said “the accidents with the greatest impact involve passenger transport vehicles and trucks, mostly long distance vehicles. The drivers are subject to great pressure, working for long hours without intervals for rest”. This led to greater stress, and tired drivers were slower to react in the event of anything unexpected, he added. To ensure implementation of the decree, all long distance trucks and buses must be fitted with a tachograph. This is a device that automatically records the speed of the vehicle, the distance covered, and the time spent stationary, presumed to be the driver’s rest periods. The tachograph will allow the traffic police and the owners of the vehicles to check on the driver’s activity, particularly whether the rest periods, and the maximum period for uninterrupted driving are being respected. Tachographs are mandatory in many countries, including the entire European Union and South Africa. Modern trucks are manufactured with a tachograph already installed. Older trucks in service on Mozambican roads must now have them installed. The use of the tachograph becomes obligatory 180 days after the publication of the government decree in the official gazette, the “Boletim da Republica”. That period provided enough time for tachographs to become available on the Mozambican market, said Saide.

DHLAKAMA DISPENSES WITH HIS POLICE ESCORT

Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique’s former rebel movement, Renamo, declared on Monday that he no longer wishes to be escorted by the police as he travels around the north and centre of the country, reports the independent television station STV. Dhlakama was irritated when his police escort left while he was addressing a rally in Chifunde district, in the western province of Tete, last week. He accused the police of “abandoning” him, and henceforth he could do without them. “I don’t need them any more”, Dhlakama said. “Let (President Filipe) Nyusi keep his police, and his armed forces”. From now on, he would rely for protection exclusively on Renamo’s own illegal militia. “I have my men. They are the strongest in Mozambique”, he declared. The spokesperson for the General Command of the police, Pedro Cossa, said the police had left Dhlakama in Chifunde, because of “operational problems”, and this was not the first time the Renamo leader had been left without a police escort. As for Dhlakama’s declaration that he was dispensing with police escorts altogether, Cossa shrugged this off. As a political leader, he said, Dhlakama “can take whatever decision he thinks best”. Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco, who heads the government delegation in the long running dialogue between the government and Renamo, told STV that Renamo had raised the question of Dhlakama’s police escort as a “prior issue” at Monday’s dialogue session. Since Pacheco knew nothing about the matter, all that he could tell the Renamo delegation was that he would raise it with the police. Nonetheless, he thought it strange that Renao should complain about the absence of the police, when Dhlakama had already made his contempt for the police public knowledge, and had boasted, well before this incident “that he has men who are capable of guaranteeing his protection”. Dhlakama also attacked Nyusi’s appointment of the mayor of Beira, and leader of the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement(MDM), Daviz Simango, a member of the Council of State, a body that advises the President, and urged Simango not to accept the position. Dhlakama claimed that Nyusi should not have appointed someone who had run against him in last October’s presidential elections. But under the Constitution, Nyusi can appoint any four people he chooses to the Council, as long as they are of “recognized merit”. Dhlakama added that Simango should not accept because the MDM, like Renamo, regarded last year’s elections as fraudulent. However, the MDM has made it repeatedly clear that it jas no intention of indulging in the politics of boycotting state institutions.Dhlakama himself is automatically a member of the Council of State, since a place is reserved for the runner-up in the presidential elections. Ever since the Council was set up, Dhlakama has been a member, but he has never attended any meetings.

Mozambican President...........

.................Filipe Nyusi declared on Saturday that the country’s school games should become permanent activities so that young Mozambicans can occupy their necessary place in national sport, which is clamouring for quality and competitiveness.Nyusi was speaking in Pemba, capital of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, at the opening ceremony of the 12th Edition of the School Games. This year, there are 1,347 athletes from schools in all 11 provinces, competing in football, volleyball, basketball, handball, gymnastics, athletics, chess and traditional games.

Nyusi invited Mozambicans to invest in school sports, since it was here that future word class athletes could be found.In the past there had been no follow-up to the school games. “We have a duty to understand why our national teams, in almost all sports, consist of athletes enlisted by chance, and are not the fruit of consistent and systematic follow-up of talents”, he said.“From the first edition of the School Games in 1978, the National Festivals of School Games are not just the display and climax of our school sports, but show that we really do have youth who are capable of offering the joy that Mozambicans always long for”, the President said.He argued that school sport should be a permanent activity from primary school to university, and that the value chain from the schools to the national sports federations must be cared for through investment in coaches, infrastructures and equipment.Young Mozambicans, Nyusi added, should draw inspirations from such stars as Chiquinho Conde in Football, Lurdes Mutola in athletics, Clarisse Machnguana in basketball or Lucas Sinoia in boxing.

He expressed his hope that from the Pemba games young people would emerge who, in a few years time, would be wearing the colours of the national team in various sports. For this to happen, those young athletes needed to find the due attention and care from the government, from society and from their own parents. He suggested that the organizers of the games, should, in two or four years time, check on the progress of each of the student athletes taking part.After the inaugural ceremony, the games began, opening with a football match between Gaza and Cabo Delgado provinces. To the surprise of the audience, the teams had a few extra players. Nyusi himself descended from the podium to join the Gaza team, while the Ministers of Education, Jorge Ferrao, and of Youth and Sport, Alberto Nkutumula, strengthened the side from Cabo Delgado.Although he and the two ministers were only on the field for about five minutes, Nyusi showed that he remains athletic, and his brief moments with the ball delighted the reporters covering the event.Gaza won this inaugural match by two goals to zero.