Mozambique 27 July: Peace talks restart
Good morning. Peace talks restart in Maputo this morning after a three-day break to allow the international mediators to prepare a set of suggestions to put to the government and Renamo negotiators. In the meantime, we produced a gallery of the participants – free to view – showing who’s who in the talks.
FREE TO VIEW: Gallery: Who’s who in the Mozambique peace talks
While the talks were briefly on hold, political focus returned to Mozambique’s economic and financial crises. Opposition parties Renamo and MDM protested Frelimo’s passing of the rectified budget yesterday, and Renamo vowed to boycott a parliamentary inquiry into the hidden debts of ProIndicus and MAM – fearing Frelimo’s majority will come to a convenient conclusion for the government.
SEE: Mozambique opposition says it will boycott hidden debts inquiry
Renamo is keeping the pressure up militarily, and on Monday morning armed men again shot at one of Vale’s trains taking coal from Moatize to Beira. There were two such attacks in June, leading Vale to suspend its use of the Sena line, and it’s somewhat surprising that the company decided to start using the line again before peace has been re-established – especially when it has more capacity on the Nacala line than it can profitably use.
The resumption of hostilities over the last three years should not obscure the gains made in Mozambique since the 1992 peace accord. One of the greatest was last year’s announcement that Mozambique had become the first country in the world to become landmine-free having previously been heavily mined. The organisations that helped Mozambique reach that goal now want to take their equipment across the border to Zimbabwe, whose own landmine problem is acute and has yet to receive widespread international attention.
SEE: Zimbabwe’s minefields are next stop for detectors that made Mozambique mine-free
French oil and gas major Total’s decision to use Pemba instead of Nacala as the logistics base for its drilling campaign is a boost for the capital of Cabo Delgado which has been in the doldrums since the excitement over Anadarko and Eni’s projects faded with the falling gas price in 2015.
SEE: Total picks Pemba over Nacala for offshore drilling logistics
And in the telecoms sector, state-owned mobile company Mcel is to be combined with its majority owner, the fixed line monopoly TDM, in a hunt for efficiencies and profitability for both companies.
SEE: Mozambique to combine fixed and mobile operators in new state-owned telco
Have a great week.