Maputo — Thieves are sabotaging the high voltage power line from the northern Mozambican city of Nampula to the port of Nacala by stealing metallic parts from the pylons, reports Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

The thefts began two months ago, and so far 31 of the 402 pylons on the line have been sabotaged, all of them between Nacala and the town of Monapo.

The thefts leave the pylons in a weakened state, and in danger of collapse. Any high winds could bring a pylon down. The fall of one pylon could well bring down others, in a chain reaction. That would deprive the whole coastal area of Nampula of power, plunging Nacala into darkness, with serious consequences for the port, which is landlocked Malawi's cheapest and nearest outlet to the sea.

The Mozambican electricity company, EDM, puts the damage done to the pylons so far at 750,000 US dollars. There have already been limited power cuts as EDM works to repair the damaged pylons.

Past theft of metallic parts, not only from EDM, but also from the rail company, CFM, and from the telecommunications company, TDM, has been linked to the thriving trade in scrap metal. The thieves sell the parts to scrap metal merchants who do not ask where they came from.

But this time EDM suspects something more sinister. EDM public relations officer Celestino Sitoe pointed out that the thieves seemed to be using highly sophisticated equipment used to cut angle brackets away from the pylons. Furthermore the thieves are only targeting the new pylons, ignoring old ones on a line that was decommissioned in 2004.

Sitoe suspects that the attacks are not simple theft but deliberate sabotage by somebody who does not want Nacala to be supplied with electricity (perhaps because they would prefer Malawian trade to revert to dependence on routes to South African ports).

To try and halt the sabotage, representatives of the Nampula provincial government and police are meeting this week with traditional leaders, in an attempt to make the public aware of the importance of the line, and to draw up strategies to protect it.