Maputo — The Maputo Provincial Court has found a buyer for 950 tonnes of rice held in Maputo port, and ruled as unfit for human consumption by the health authorities, reports Monday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".

The rice came from the ship the "Lissom", which was towed into Maputo port last February after suffering a fire on the high seas. It was carrying a cargo of 22,000 tonnes of rice from China to West Africa.

Most of the rice was transferred to a second ship and continued its voyage. But when the damaged "Lissom" was towed out of the port into a waiting area, it was left unguarded, and local people, using canoes and other small boats, looted all the rice (about 800 tonnes) still in its holds.

The Health Ministry warned that this rice was contaminated with sea-water, fuel, and a variety of other chemicals, and could cause serious food poisoning. Nonetheless, very little of the looted rice was recovered.

A further 950 tonnes of rice from the ship was in a customs warehouse in the port: when it was inspected by the Health Ministry, it too was found to be unfit for human consumption.

It is this rice that the court is trying to sell. The potential buyer is a South African animal feed manufacturer.

According to the Maputo provincial chief attorney, Arone Nhaca, it was decided to negotiate directly with this company, rather than put the rice on public auction, in order to avoid any attempt by unscrupulous businessmen to sell the rice on the Maputo and Matola markets.

The provincial finance and trade directorates have been instructed to follow the sale of the rice closely, to ensure that none of it goes astray. Officials from these directorates, plus representatives of the court and of the potential buyer, will go to the port on Monday to assess the value of the rice.