Nyusi pops back to Abu Dhabi
Nyusi pops back to Abu Dhabi
And: Why did the World Bank put up almost $200m to help Sasol offload its stake in the Ressano Garcia power plant?
Good afternoon. President Nyusi is in Abu Dhabi today, having arrived yesterday for a four-day visit. Less than three months have passed since his last visit to the Emirate. What could be behind the decision to visit again so quickly?
The official explanation, per the front page of Notícias today and Domingo yesterday, is that he is going to deepen friendship and ties with the UAE, and to meet various other, unspecified people.
Talks with the Emirati president will focus on cooperation in infrastructure, Nyusi said before departing Maputo yesterday, and on security, where the two countries are already cooperating.
At least one potential cooperation in infrastructure has already come to naught, however. Zakher Marine International, an Emirati company which provides services to the offshore oil and gas industries, set up a joint venture with Mozambique’s national oil company, ENH, in 2020. But last year, Zakher was bought by the Abu Dhabi national oil company, ADNOC — and promptly dissolved its JV with ENH.
As we noted on the occasion of his last visit in October, Abu Dhabi is also the home of the Privinvest group company, Abu Dhabi Mar, which received the $2bn of Mozambique’s ‘hidden debts’ to pay for offshore security tech. Nyusi’s team is currently locking horns with Privinvest in a London court case; Carta de Mocambique wonders today if there be back-channel conversations going on in Abu Dhabi to break the deadlock. But our sources say there are not.
Instead, Nyusi is most likely seeking money for projects — including, reportedly, rehabilitation of the N1 highway — and help with counter-insurgency, from an autocratic regime which knows a thing or two about surveillance and authoritarianism.
Agenda:
Yesterday to Wednesday: President Filipe Nyusi on a four-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, invited by the president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi
Tomorrow, 19:00 CAT: Webinar: Press freedom under strain in Mozambique, featuring Zitamar editor Tom Bowker among the panellists
The latest from Zitamar News:
World Bank digs deep to fund private deals in Mozambique gas-to-power
🚨 FREE TO READ
The World Bank put up almost $200m to help Sasol sell its stake in the Ressano Garcia power plant to private equity-backed Azura Power. Why?
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
Join the discussion on Telegram or view on our website
The Lusophone Renewable Energy Association (ALER) has released its 2022 report on Renewables in Mozambique. Highlights include:
⚡️The rise of off-grid systems
⚡️More funding for renewable projects
⚡️Proler, the flagship renewable energy auction programme funded by the EU
Also in the news:
South Africans send team to investigate burning bodies
Twenty-six people arrested in case of drug trafficking at port of Macuse
Maritime accidents killed 129 people in 2022
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