Mozambique , will today reduce electricity supplies to Zimbabwe by 100 megawatts to pave way for maintenance work at its giant Cahora Bassa power station.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza arrived in Santiago on Wednesday for the start of a three day official visit to Chile, during which agreements on fishing, mineral resources, education and social welfare are expected to be signed.

Wednesday and Thursday saw the Mozambican government submitted to questioning in the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic - but some of the opposition deputies, rather than asking relevant questions about the government's compliance with its five year programme, approved by the Assembly in 2005, demanded to know whether Prime Minister Luisa Diogo is really a Mozambican.

The key priorities for expanding rural access to clean drinking water are the provinces of Nampula and Zambezia, where about 40 per cent of the Mozambican population lives, declared the Minister of Public Works, Felicio Zacarias, on Thursday.

The general secretary of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party, Filipe Paunde, on Thursday warned residents of Boane district, 30 kilometres west of Maputo, not to be taken in by the "lies" against Frelimo that they will hear in the run-up to the provincial and general elections of next year.

There are 227 filling stations in Mozambique - but 43 per cent of them are concentrated in Maputo City, according to the Deputy Minister of Energy, Jaime Himade.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector funding wing of the World Bank, announced on Tuesday that it has signed with the Mozambican government an investment programme to develop the tourism sector in the country.

The number of people in the Mozambican countryside with access to clean drinking water rose by over 20 per cent between 2004 and 2007, according to the Minister of Public Works, Felicio Zacarias.

Twenty two inmates died in the Chimoio Agricultural Penitentiary, in the central Mozambican province of Manica, over the last four months, according to a report in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

Tanzania is considering negotiating for the purchase of electricity from the Cahora Bassa dam (HCB), in Mozambique's western province of Tete province, to face the growing demand for power.

The Maputo City Court, in the trial of six men accused of the attempted murder of prominent lawyer Albano Silva in 1999, heard a witness on Wednesday confirm apparent threats to Silva made by one of the accused.

The spotlight in the trial of six men accused of the 1999 attempted murder of prominent Mozambican lawyer Albano Silva on Wednesday switched to the mobile phone records which the prosecution has used to establish a pattern of communications between the accused.

Mozambique produces surpluses of maize and cassava, but still imports large, and increasingly expensive, amounts of rice and wheat, Agriculture Minister Soares Nhaca told the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday.

The Mozambican government is planning to invest about three million US dollars in a project to build filling stations in rural areas powered by solar panels.

The current world food crisis presents a serious challenge to education in Africa, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Koichiro Matsuura, has warned.

The Maputo City Council has decided to abandon coercive methods in its drive to move informal vendors off the city's pavements and into the municipal markets.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the government of Mozambique today announced a new investment program that will help develop the country's emerging tourism sector.

The biennial conference of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) was officially opened on Monday by Mozambique President Armando Emilio Guebuza.

The General Secretary of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party, Filipe Paunde, is touring Maputo province to assess the degree of compliance with the government's Economic and Social Plan (PES) for 2008, and to urge citizens to increase production, particularly of foodstuffs.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Monday called for expanding educational opportunities beyond conventional schools, and to redefine education systems so that they can meet the challenges of globalization, and respond to the demand for training human capital.

The Mozambican government has invested 7.7 million meticais (380,000 US dollars) in the purchase of wheat seeds to resume the production of this grain and reduce the country's dependence on wheat imports.

Those who defrauded Mozambique's largest bank, the BCM, of the equivalent of 14 million US dollars, were prepared to pay large sums to bribe the bank's lawyer, Albano Silva, the Maputo City Court heard on Tuesday.

Post Primary education in Africa should focus on the development of vocational and technical skills so that African youths can be employable and contribute to the development of their societies.

The Mozambican government announced on Monday that the country's third municipal elections will be held on 9 November.

A Swedish company, SEKAB is working to help Tanzania and Mozambique to become free of their dependence on oil and significantly increasing their production of electric power and exporting several billion litres of ethanol within 20 years.