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South Africa: Mozambicans Flee From Country - Government Declares Emergency
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
22 May 2008
Posted to the web 22 May 2008
Maputo
The Mozambican government on Thursday decreed a situation of emergency to cope with the crisis caused by the exodus of thousands of Mozambican citizens from South Africa, fleeing the wave of murderous violence unleashed against foreign immigrants.
Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet, called to discuss the violence in South Africa, that the government has decided to activate the National Emergency Operations Centre (CENOE). The last time CENOE was activated was for a natural disaster, the floods in the Zambezi Valley in January and February
CENOE is the operational wing of the government's relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), through which the INGC provides support to the victims of disasters
Baloi confirmed the arrival on Wednesday of 620 Mozambicans in 10 buses. These are citizens who had lost all their possessions, and had watched helplessly as mobs burnt down their flimsy homes. The Mozambican consulate in Johannesburg accommodated them in tents, while arranging transport to take them across the border.
They join an estimated 10,000 other Mozambicans who did not wait for the consulate to organise transport but fled from South Africa using their own resources.
At least 40 foreigners have been murdered in this bout of ethnic cleansing. Baloi said at least five are known to be Mozambicans (although the paper "Diario de Mocambique" puts the Mozambican death toll at eight). He said the government is in contact with South African funeral agencies to make funeral arrangements.
The Minister said the government was unable to provide detailed statistics about the Mozambicans who had returned since most of them, traumatized by the violence they had suffered or witnessed, preferred to make their way, as quickly as possible, to their provinces and village of origin.
The exodus will worsen. Baloi said that thousands of Mozambicans are huddled in temporary accommodation centres in South Africa awaiting transport. He believed that many of them will need both material and psychological support.
He said the government intends to provide immediate support for these destitute returnees, but must then deal with the long term consequences. For once, the crisis has died down some will wish to go back to South Africa, while others will need help in resettling definitively in Mozambique.
Most of the 50,000 or so Mozambicans who work on the South African gold mines, and whose remittances make an important contribution to the Mozambican economy, seem to be in no immediate danger. Baloi said the mining industry remains generally calm: incidents were reported in only two mines, but were quickly brought under control. In those two mines the companies decided to pay the workers and suspend activities until all is back to normal.
Baloi stressed that Mozambique's relations with South Africa remain good, including in "harmonizing position to solve various problems in the fight against poverty. What is important for us is to face the question calmly to avoid any acts of retaliation, which could have serious consequences".
Contacts were under way between the two governments, and Baloi thought that the decision by South African President Thabo Mbeki to send the army into the townships showed that there was the political will to end the violence.
Some of the Mozambican press is less diplomatic than the Minister. An editorial in Thursday's issue of the independent newsheet "Mediafax" asked "Why are those prominent South African figures who enjoyed the protection of the Mozambican people, and who are now leaders or businessmen, not raising their voices to protect Mozambicans and stop the acts of xenophobia? Where is the ANC Youth League or the demobilsed troops of Umkhonto we Sizwe (the armed wing of the ANC in the fight against apartheid) who benefited so much from Mozambican support?"
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The South African government, the paper declared, "is not doing what it should do to end the massacres of Mozambicans and other foreigners".
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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