New developments in solar and in shipping

Plus: Sorting fake military statements from real ones

Good afternoon. It seems that a press release purporting to have come from the Mozambican military yesterday, claiming to have killed 14 insurgents including a leader named Abu Fadila, is fake. We published it on our Live Blog on Telegram this morning, and have now posted a correction there.

We weren’t the only ones to be taken in; Notícias de Defesa, a website with an unclear relationship to the government and Ministry of Defence, also published it as fact, before quietly deleting it and tweeting that the statement was fake. Other outlets are still running the fake news. But some confusion is understandable: the press release came in the same slightly dubious format as one last week announcing the start of operation Vulcão IV, and similarly circulated on social media rather than, apparently, through official channels. Sorting fact from fiction in Mozambique remains a challenging job.

Back in the world of real news, a new solar power plant is planned for Zambezia. Spanish infrastructure company Elecnor has already been contracted to build a transformer to go at one end of a new transmission line in Chimuara, and clearly thinks it would be a good idea to put a power plant there too. Makes sense.

In more good news for Mozambique’s economy, a regular shipping route linking Maputo with Mombasa, Dubai, and India’s Mundra port, is doubling its frequency, to run every week. It’s the latest vote of confidence for Maputo and Mozambique’s ports in general, including Beira which came in for some criticism in this column last week, but which is also heading in the right direction.

Mozambique received a very positive write-up in the latest edition of South African industry journal Freight News, which exhorted its readers to reconsider Mozambican ports and put behind them any bad experiences they may have had in the past. Is Mozambique on track to fulfil its destiny as the obvious route to the sea for its landlocked hinterland?

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The latest from Zitamar News:

Spain’s Elecnor plans 30MW solar power plant in Zambezia
Spanish electricity and infrastructure company Elecnor is planning to build a 30MW solar power plant in Chimuara, in Mopeia district in the province of Zambezia

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Also in the news:

• Chissano in favour of district elections

• Mozambique allows Russian ships back to Mozambican ports

• Mozambique a major cocaine smuggling hub, finds report

• Amnesty condemns video of SADC troops burning bodies

• MDM calls for Prime Minister's resignation

• Macomia-Mucojo road to be rehabilitated following storm

• Boane river crossing interrupted due to water release at Pequenos Libombos

Today’s front pages in Maputo. Photo © Faizal Chauque / Zitamar News