Terrorism in Cabo Delgado: beheadings continue.

Another attack by  terrorists led to the beheading of a man at the Namogelia administrative post in the Chire Administrative Post of Cabo Delgado.

The incursion happened this Wednesday approximately 5:00 am, when the attackers set fire to a church and a number of residents' homes.

According to sources, the attack happened in a village near Bilibiza, where the terrorists entered and started firing in all directions, sending the locals into a state of panic. While the majority of the population has still not left the village, some people chose to go to other areas of the Nampula province while some elected to go to the district headquarters.

In a location close to Bilibiza, the Defense and Security Forces and villagers reportedly started pursuing the terrorists, and five of them were reportedly arrested.

Three more dead bodies, thought to have been beheaded, were discovered in the Chiure district on Wednesday, increasing the total number of fatalities in the Messanja region, Katapua Administrative Post, to four.

Sofala. The first 50 homes could be delivered to Nhamatanda's Idai victims before year's end.

The first fifty dwellings under construction will be delivered in December to individuals devastated by Cyclone Idai in the Nhamatanda district of Sofala.

The property is part of the TSUCHI foundation's thousand-house project, which has a budget of more than four billion meticais.

The initiative, which is part of the post-cyclone rehabilitation, impressed Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane, who visited the Ndeja resettlement district in Nhamatanda on Friday.

"Houses are being constructed. I went to look at type II and type I houses. I observed a lot of joy on the faces of the people who will reside in these dwellings. They now have a lot of obligation to take care of these news homes .

We'll find it's beautiful when we come to visit again in a year, he predicted.

The people who were relocated applauded the government's efforts to establish favorable circumstances for Cyclone Idai damage restoration. (RM)

Mozambique among the 30 countries most hit by TB last year

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 Within the list of the 30 countries with the most cases of tuberculosis in 2021, according to a report released yesterday by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the disease are Angola, Brazil and Mozambique .

The document analyses the response to tuberculosis n 215 countries or territories in 2021

Renamo calls on the Government to respond to grievances in light of the setting of salaries based on the Single Salary Table

At a  press conference yesterday  in Maputo Renamo appealed to the Government to respond to the grievances of professional groups in setting wages in light of the Single Salary Table (TSU)

Authorities dismantle clandestine iPhone factory in Maputo City

Denounciation by a citizen  led to the discovery and dismantling of an iPHONE "mobile phone factory" in Maputo, Mozambique.

The factory was run from a private apartment by two Chinese nationals.

According to Gimo Jone, the head of Customs in Maputo, mobile phones were launched into the national market without a license from the National Institute of Communications of Mozambique (INCM).

Actually, this is a factory; it's an apartment, but it functions like a factory. Mobile phones are assembled here for sale in the Alto-Maè area.

All of these mobile phones were brought into the country without the INCM license, let alone the customs declaration. As a result, it is smuggling in addition to  the other crime as there is no legal paperwork for the importation and placement of mobile phones on the market," he added.

More than a thousand iPHONE mobile phones and different materials used to counterfeit IMEIs, or mobile phone identification numbers, were seized as a part of the three-week investigation.

The factory's owners are of Chinese origin and, when confronted, refute the allegations:

– Do you confirm that you posses all the necessary documents?

– Yes, I have everything, and we have already confirmed that t. So what they is wrong and illegal .

– You operated as a factory. Where are your documents?

– We have everything and they seized all. I'm very angry, I won't say anything else - stated one of the proprieteries of the "factory".

All that was impounded, according to the Mozambican Customs, will be submitted to the Attorney General's Office for subsequent actions, while the two alleged counterfeiters face the legal consequences.

The multisectoral team that dismantled the factory was made up of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, the National Criminal Investigation Service, the National Institute of Communications of Mozambique, the National Inspectorate of Economic Activities and Customs of Mozambique.

The President of the Republic and his Rwandan counterpart pop down to Maputo's Fish Market.

On Friday in the late afternoon, Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, and Filipe Nyusi, the president of the Republic, went to the Maputo Fish Market.

The two statesmen engaged in interactions with the locals and merchants, who concurrently exhibited the variety of fish put up for sale there.

The President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, used the occasion to test the citizens' knowledge of the Rwandan leader and his nation's role to the fight against terrorism.

Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, expressed his pleasure at touring the Fish Market and commended the friendship between his nation and Mozambique in return.

When speaking with customers and vendors at the Fish Market, Filipe Nyusi, the head of state of Mozambique, had to translate what his Rwandan counterpart was stating.

Warning for the Southern Zone: heavy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds

Mozambican medical professionals decide to suspend operations in opposition to the current Salary Table

   File

President's Office of the Medical Association of Mozambique announcement

Subject: Strike by Medical Class

Dear colleagues

Yesterday, October 27, 2022, the Medical Association of Mozambique (AMM) hosted a national conference that gathered numerous medical professionals from all over the nation.

The decision to stage a countrywide strike was made by the class in unanimity during this meeting.

We therefore let you know the following: 1.

The strike will begin at 7 am on November 7, 2022, and last for 21 days with the possibility of extension;

2. With the knowledge of His Excellency the President of the Republic, His Excellency the Prime Minister, His Excellency the Minister of Economy and Finance, and Her Excellency the Minister of State Administration, the strike notice letter and the medical class grievances book were sent to the Ministry of Health this morning.

VOA REPORT

The Mozambican medical profession announced this Thursday, 27, the stoppage of activities in the National Health System sector, in protest against the Single Salary Table, in force since this month in the State apparatus.

After about an hour and a half of analyzing the remunerations that are being paid based on the new table, the medical profession says they have been defrauded by the Government, since the promises that were made do not correspond to what is happening at the salary level.

"We are not being respected," said Gilberto Manhiça, chairman of the Ordem dos Médicos.

The decided stoppage has immediate effects, however, it is still awaiting the decision of the sectors to be covered and that will be announced later today.

Mozambican Association of People: Training legislators on disability and human rights concerns

Starting this Friday, the Forum of Mozambican Association of People with Disabilities (FAMOD) will teach MPs of the Assembly of the Republic in disability and rights issues in Maputo.

According to FAMOD's executive coordinator, Clodualdo Castiano, the training stems from the ongoing process of submitting the Draft Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Mozambique to the Assembly of the Republic.

Mandlakazi to build cashew processing plant

   Photo courtesy of Macao News

A private consortium is investing 225 million meticais (US$3.5 million) for the construction of a cashew nut processing plant in Guezane, Mandlakazi district, in the southern province of Gaza.

According to project owner Super Boa Farm Ltd, construction will be completed in two years and provide 200 permanent jobs. In addition, it is expected that over the next five years at least a thousand jobs will be created.

The company's executive director, Alexandre Mutemba, explained that with the initiative cashew nut production will increase and this will contribute to reducing poverty among local families and mobilising more jobs and tax contributions.

In the first phase, the initiative will directly involve over 500 people and, indirectly, about 1,200 families, mainly small producers of the districts of Mandlakazi and Chibuto, both in Gaza, along with Mabote, Panda, and Funhalouro in Inhambane.

Super Boa Farm financial director, Isac Nhantumbo, says that at the beginning the project will cover an area of one thousand of the seven thousand hectares planned.

 “Currently, we have about 600 cashew seedlings planted since the beginning of the preparatory activity in April. Once it starts operating, the factory will process cashew nuts, as well as produce spirits, biodiesel, and charcoal”, he added.

The first stone for the project was laid by the Secretary of State for Gaza province, Amosse Macamo, who said that Mandlakazi has high productive potential, occupying the top position at the provincial level in terms of cashew nut production. 

He also explained that Gaza province is promoting the production of cashew nuts through the initiative “One family - 100 cashew trees” which includes the creation of polyclonal fields and nurseries to ensure the multiplication and distribution of seedlings.

As a result of the implementation of this initiative, about 74,550 cashew seedlings have been produced so far and planted over an area of 1,043 hectares. This number is expected to increase significantly by the end of the year.

Source AIM 

European Union allocates €28 million for aid to Mozambique

 

Mozambique will receive €28 million from the European Union (EU) to mitigate food insecurity and for emergency aid. Of this amount, €20 million will fund programmes to sustainably increase food security and resilience with the balance for emergency food aid. 

This is part of the €600 million that the European Commission has allocated to the European 

Development Fund to finance immediate humanitarian food assistance, food production, and resilience of food systems in the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. 

This support, according to a European Union press release sent to AIM, will help partner countries and vulnerable people cope with the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, specifically the current food crisis and economic shock. 

“The EU’s swift and comprehensive response to the current food insecurity in several vulnerable partner countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific area demonstrates our strong solidarity towards our partners, in particular in Africa”, said Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen. 

 

Mozambique News Agency   Report no.620, 21st October 2022 

Prime Minister highlights positive economic trends

The Mozambican economy continues to grow despite all of the challenges facing the country, according to

Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane. Speaking on 19 October to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, the Prime Minister pointed out that “despite all the challenges, our country’s economic performance continues to show a positive trend with a growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 4.14 per cent and 4.59

per cent in the first and second quarters of this year”.

According to Maleiane, the positive trend “is a reflection of the actions and measures that the government has been taking in several economic and social sectors, coupled with measures to control the Covid-19 pandemic”. He explained that this growth was driven by good performances in agriculture, fishing, tourism, transportation, manufacturing, mining, and services.

However, he acknowledged that the rise in fuel prices in the international market has influenced the rise of prices of goods and services in the country.

 To mitigate this, the government has been implementing a set of short-term measures focusing mainly on the cost structure of fuel “taking into account its impact on economic activity and our daily lives”.

Maleiane stressed that within the scope of pricing policy “we have been engaging in dialogue, on a regular basis, with the various stakeholders in the process of import and fuel distribution in the country with the aim of finding shared solutions to mitigate the impact of the rise in fuel prices at the domestic market level”.

It was in this context that the Government has reduced the logistic infrastructure costs of fuel for petrol stations by 60 per cent; the port handling fee by 5 per cent for all oil products; the margins of central storage facilities by 30 per cent; and tax on fuel by four meticais (one US dollar is about 63.9 meticais) per litre for petrol and diesel. In addition, the Government has temporarily suspended the correction component in the price structure for fuel and maintained the VAT exemption on cooking gas and paraffin.

As a result, it was possible to set the price of diesel at 87.97 meticais per litre when it should be 103.68 meticais. The same is true of gasoline which is sold at 86.97 meticais per litre rather than 101.57 meticais.

The Prime Minister also told parliamentarians that the measures that the government has taken to increase production and mitigate fuel prices are helping to limit inflation, which last September stood at 8.78 per cent against the two-digit average across Africa and Europe.

Complementing the short-term measures, on 9 August President Filipe Nyusi launched a set of medium and long-term measures to ensure accelerated and sustained growth of the economy. 

The adoption of these measures aims to improve the macroeconomic stability, business environment, and sustainability of the tax system in the medium and long term.

In another important development, the new platform eVisa allows for the electronic pre-approval of visas to foreigners for tourism and business (to attend meetings and conferences), as well as to carry out research. 

This platform is also valid for foreign nationals wishing to apply for pre-approval for visas in investment.

The Government will also submit to Parliament draft legislation to revise several legal provisions such as the VAT Code, Excise Code, Customs Tariff, Corporate Income Tax Code (IRPC), Tax System, Mining Law, and Petroleum Law.

Source: AIM

Mozambique, Angola, and Cape Verde are exploring ways to fund small and medium-sized enterprises.

Companies from Mozambique, Angola, and Cape Verde are seeking for ways to finance small and medium-sized businesses in these Portuguese-speaking nations.

Agostinho Vuma, head of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), stated today at a conference in Maputo that the initiative might help improve the economic environment in these three nations.

"To the extent that our country is experiencing economic growth anticipated for 5%, 5.3% next year, but also as a challenge to handle the fluctuation of options to funding, from stock exchanges, it is a manner of deciding on the alternative to finance our commercial activity," he emphasized.

Agostinho Vuma was speaking today in Maputo at a meeting of CTA, (Cabo verde)Cape Verde, and Angolan representatives.