Maputo — The leader and presidential candidate of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, was prevented by stall holders themselves from campaigning in the main market of the northern city of Lichinga.

According to a report in Tuesday's issue of the "Mozambique Political Process Bulletin", published by AWEPA (European Parliamentarians for Africa) and the Mozambican NGO CIP (Centre for Public Integrity), Dhlakama's Lichinga election parade, consisting of one car with a sound system, plus Renamo supporters on bicycles and on foot, arrived at the market on 8 October.

But the stallholders would not let Dhlakama in. Instead, they left their stalls and went to meet the parade, shouting "keep moving, Renamo".

The stallholders were reported as saying "Anyone who goes to the Renamo meeting will never sell in this market again. This market was built by Frelimo, not Renamo".

In the continuing reports from its correspondents on sporadic incidents of violence, the Bulletin reports that in Cahora Bassa district, Tete province, also on 8 October, Frelimo supporters attacked a Renamo group, injuring three of them, including the local Renamo delegate. The Renamo members had been accused of destroying Frelimo propaganda.

On 6 October, Frelimo supporters disrupted the campaign of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), as the MDM leader and presidential candidate, Daviz Simango, made his way through Inhambane province. In the town of Maxixe, a Frelimo group threw up barricades to prevent Simango from campaigning in the town market.

Later the same day, the MDM parade met with further disruption in Massinga district, and in these clashes a Frelimo supporter was injured.

In the northern province of Cabo Delgado, Renamo members attacked Frelimo supporters in the district of Balama on 7 October, on the pretext that they were trying to infiltrate a Renamo parade. In the neighbouring district of Namuno, Renamo members assaulted their Frelimo rivals merely because the latter were flyposting election propaganda near the site where Renamo intended to hold a rally.

In Lipal, Namarroi district, Zambezia province, Renamo members burst into a Frelim office and destroyed election propaganda material.

In Combomune, in Gaza province, a group of Frelimo youths attacked a man for displaying opposition posters in his window,

In Dondo district, Sofala province, an MDM member named Jose Fernando was arrested when climbing up a post allegedly to tear down a Frelimo poster.

Pf/ (403) 651009 RIVERSDALE ANNOUNCES NEW TETE COAL RESOURCES

Maputo, 13 Oct (AIM) - The Australian company Riversdale Mining has announced a major new coal discovery in the western Mozambican province of Tete.

This area, with the licence number EPL946L, is known by Riversdale simply as the "Zambeze Project". It is located near Tete city, and the estimated coal resource here is 1.7 billion tonnes.

A Riversdale release says that estimate is based on 120 boreholes drilled over the past 12 months. This area covers 24,740 hectares, and so far Riversdale has only drilled in the northern part of the area.

The Zambeze Project, Riversdale says, is similar to its existing coal concession at Benga, further east in Tete. It consists of "22 coal seams outcropping over a strike length of 14 kilometres".

The Riversdale chairman, Michael O'Keefe, said "the considerable effort of our team in Mozambique has now delivered another potential Tier One project with similar coal to Benga, yet likely to be a significantly larger operation".

The Tete coal seams are noted for their high quality hard coking coal, and O'Keefe said "a second coking coal project of this size positions Riversdale Mining as a preferred supplier to the steel industry in the rapidly developing markets of Brazil and India".

Riversdale says it will now undertake further extensive drilling as well as coal quality and market studies "to determine the feasibility of large scale open pit development".

The company has also been investigating the viability of using barges to take the coal from Benga down the Zambezi to an offshore floating trans-loading vessel. A barging feasibility study will be submitted to the Mozambican government in the second half of 2010.

Riversale says it has found "no physical impediments to coal barging on the Zambezi, although some dredging may be required on certain sections of the river".