PM and finance minister dismissed as Nyusi kicks off major reshuffle; Council of Minsters approves proposal for terrorism law

Welcome to Zitamar’s daily Mozambique briefing for 3 March 2022

The latest from Zitamar News:

Cabo Ligado Weekly: 21 - 27 February 2022

• Elite police unit ambushed in strategic village in Macomia

• Insurgents besiege main town in northern Nangade 

• Mass exodus in canoes to Tanzania by refugees

You can also read the full report in Portuguese here.

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From the Zitamar Live Blog:

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PM and finance minister dismissed as Nyusi kicks off major reshuffle
The dismissal today of prime minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosário and deputy health minister Lídia Cardoso follow yesterday’s removals of the ministers of finance, energy, trade and industry, public works, and the sea, inland waters, and fisheries
Nyusi appears to be finishing the reshuffle he wanted to do at the start of his second term, in 2020 — which could culminate in the appointment of Celso Correia, currently the agriculture minister, as prime minister. Energy Minister Max Tonela is strongly rumoured to be the next finance minister, with Carlos Mesquita following Tonela’s trajectory from trade and industry to energy and mineral resources. If Correia does move, Nyusi will need to appoint a new agriculture minister — which could be the departing public works minister João Machatine, or Augusta Maita, who has been dismissed from the ministry of the sea and fisheries. This reshuffle seems to be the final move before the next Frelimo congress in September. If Nyusi fails to obtain his third mandate as leader, he will look to place loyalists in key positions — namely in a new Frelimo Political Commission — in order to protect himself after his presidency is over, and to leave a successor he can influence.

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Also in the news:

• Low rainfall in southern Mozambique may lead to food crisis (Lusa)

• People displaced by terrorism need help in Zambézia (O País)

• Council of Minsters approves proposal for terrorism law (O País)

• Mozambique fails to recognise Russian invasion of Ukraine (Verdade) 

• Ukraine invasion could spike fuel and wheat prices, says government (O País)

• NGO pushes for the creation of Mozambique's sovereign fund (Carta de Moçambique)

• EDM back in the "darkness" with new administration (Verdade)

Low rainfall in southern Mozambique may lead to food crisis (Lusa)