Maputo — The Commander of the Mozambican army, Maj-Gen Tiago Nampele, claims that the terrorists in the northern province of Cabo Delgado have been defeated, since between 90 and 95 per cent of the territory that was once in the terrorists' hands has been recaptured.
According to Nampele, who was speaking to reporters in Mocimboa da Praia district, remnants of the insurgents have now been driven into the Catupa forest, in the north-east of Macomia district, where they operate in small groups.
Nampele believes that the remnants of the terrorist bands currently number between 200 and 250 people.
"What we are planning is how to launch an offensive, and at the moment we have drawn up a plan with the Rwandan forces. We have been informed that the enemy is located in the forests of Catupa, where they are in small groups. So what we're planning at the moment is, first of all, to try to stop them from getting food', said Nampele.
According to him, the insurgents no longer operate from fixed bases. "In fact, there are no bases, but only a few groups of terrorists who move around in small groups. They spread out in groups of two', he said,
He praised the support given by Mozambique's partners. "We learnt a lot from Rwanda', he said. "It was like gas. You can have a cooker; you can have food. But if you don't have gas, you can't cook anything,"
"So Rwanda became the gas for us, it gave us strength and together, shoulder to shoulder, we did what we did and we are continuing to do it together on the ground. So we learnt a lot,' said Nampele.
For his part, the spokesperson for the Rwandan Defense Forces, Brigadier General Ronald Rwivanga, said that the insurgency no longer has the capacity to capture territory in Mozambique, as it has been significantly weakened.
"These are nuisance attacks, not organized attacks. But every time they come, they get beaten bloody," he said, adding that the Mozambicans and Rwandans have carried out successful operations together with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces in the forests of Catupa, where the remaining terrorists are hiding.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado has been the target of terrorist attacks that have killed more than 3,000 citizens and caused more than 900,000 people to flee to safer places, triggering a humanitarian crisis.
1021223E - BANK OF MOZAMBIQUE SANCTIONS COMMERCIAL BANKS AND MANAGERS
Maputo, 25 Dec (AIM) - The Bank of Mozambique has announced that, between October 2022 and December 2023, it sanctioned one of the country's largest commercial banks, the Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) with fines of close to 140 million meticais (around two million dollars) for various irregularities, including violations of prudential and foreign exchange rules.
According to a note from the central bank, the penalty extends to 12 senior members of the BCI management, who are obliged to pay fines ranging from 200,000 to three million meticais, depending on the seriousness of the irregularities and their level of involvement.
The Central Bank also decided to sanction four other financial institutions, namely First National Bank Mozambique, SA (FNB) with a fine of over 28 million meticais, Banco Letsego, SA, with a fine of 20 million meticais, Banco Internacional de Moçambique (BIM), with a fine of over 17 million meticais, MyBucks Banking Corporation Mcb, SA, with a fine of eight million meticais. No details of these banking offences were made available.
These commercial bank infractions come at a time when the Mozambican authorities are working to remove the country from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, which assesses member countries on the implementation of measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
The country has two years to get off the list and, to do so, it must comply with a series of recommendations aimed at preventing illicit activities in Mozambique, which include the smooth functioning of the national financial system and the fight against corruption.
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1031223E - MOZAMBIQUE LAUNCHES NEW INSTRUMENT TO ASSESS EXPORTS AND IMPORTS
Maputo, 25 Dec (AIM) - Mozambique has launched a new instrument for assessing the quality of products, in order to guarantee exports and imports within internationally accepted parameters.
This is a new phytosanitary certificate, which replaces the previous one, aims at improving certification methods in the light of World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.
"The aim of the new certificate is to be able to indicate from the base what kind of cleaning, treatment and quality improvement methods have been carried out', said recently, in Maputo, the Minister of Industry and Trade (MIC), Silvino Moreno, on the sidelines of the second Ordinary Session of the National Trade Facilitation Committee.
"The aim of the new phytosanitary certificate is for it to contain elements that make it possible to assess whether the products to be exported have the necessary quality', he explained.
He added that products, especially plants and animals, over time, or when they are harvested, always have some impurities, which is why laboratory analyses are necessary.
According to Moreno, WTO member countries are prohibited from taking diseases from their food or agricultural products to other countries and the only way to avoid this is to use laboratories "and make sure that what we are exporting is in good condition.'
On the same occasion, he revealed that Mozambique has exported over 200,000 tonnes of pigeon peas to India and hopes to export the same amount in the near future.
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With regard to price speculation, Moreno acknowledged that "there are attempts to increase prices in some cities, but our signal is there, promptly and rigidly, to prevent this from happening".
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Hong Kong, 25 Dec (AIM) - Two Mozambican citizens have been arrested on Saturday, in Hong Kong, in possession of drugs valued at 16.5 million Hong Kong dollars (about 2.1 million US dollars).
The drugs in question are methamphetamine, seized by the Customs of Hong Kong.
According to the Chinese newspaper "South China Morning Post', the suspects, a 29-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman, were arrested at the airport after the discovery of 33.5 kilo of drugs hidden in the back of 10 oil paintings and in 54 handicraft items.
"Customs will continue to focus on a risk assessment approach and concentrate on screening passengers from high-risk regions for customs clearance in order to combat transnational drug trafficking', said the Customs and Excise Department.
The couple landed in Hong Kong on Friday after travelling from Maputo and making a stopover at Doha airport in Qatar.
In Hong Kong, those convicted of drug trafficking can be subject to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and payment of a fine of up to 640,000 US dollars.
