Maputo — Mozambique's former presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, has called off a further round of unrest, which he had labelled his "spearhead'.
In his latest broadcast from his hideout somewhere in Europe, on Sunday night, Mondlane said he had received a request to delay the "spearhead' by five days, so that international organisations "can investigate crimes in Mozambique', and the country can be resupplied with food, fuel, and other essentials.
Instead of organising protests, Mondlane wants to hold fresh elections. He announced "people's elections' to be held on 6 and 7 January in every province, district, administrative post, locality and neighbourhood in the country.
There are 11 provinces (including Maputo city) in Mozambique, and over 160 districts. Each district is divided into administrative posts, and each administrative post into localities. Every urban area is divided into neighbourhoods ("bairros').
So Mondlane is proposing that tens of thousands of elections be organised across the country in less than a fortnight. He did not say who would pay for this. He was equally silent about such matters as voter registration, and the role of political parties.
Mondlane said nothing about ballot boxes or ballot papers - perhaps he thinks they are unnecessary, since the system he proposes is for voters to queue up behind their preferred candidates.
These elections, he said, will elect new provincial governors, district administrators, locality heads, and neighbourhood secretaries. They will all take office on 15 January, the same day that Mondlane plans to be sworn in as President of the Republic.
All these positions are already occupied. No problem, said Mondlane - the existing institutions will be "suspended'. He did not say what would happen if a governor, administrator or neighbourhood secretary refuses to leave office.
Mondlane also wants a new national flag - he objects to the image of an AK-47 rifle that is on the current flag. He called for new flag designs which should be submitted by 10 January. The proposals would then be voted on "by the people'. He did not say how this voting would be organised.
Replacing the flag is not a simple matter, since the design of the flag is specified in great detail in the Mozambican constitution. The last time the Constitution was amended, Mondlane was a member of the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, and he voted in favour of the amended constitution.
Perhaps Mondlane's most alarming proposal was that drinking water should be distributed free of charge. If water companies can no longer charge their clients for the water they consume, they would soon run out of money, and water supply systems would collapse, leading to a rapid spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera.
Mondlane promised a bank guarantee fund of up to 600 million dollars to help businesses recover from the recent rioting. Although the rioting was a consequence of Mondlane's own call for street protests, he claimed the businesses "were vandalised by the police on the instructions of Frelimo'.
He did not say where the 600 million dollars would come from.
Pf/ (516) 1031224E MOZAMBIQUE NOT RUNNING OUT OF FUEL
Maputo, 30 Dec (AIM) - The Mozambican Association of Fuel Companies (AMEPETROL) has assured citizens that the country has sufficient stocks of petrol and diesel to supply the market for the next three months.
AMEPETROL was responding to the long queues of vehicles that had built up outside Maputo petrol stations, after rioters who profess loyalty to exiled presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane had erected barricades on many main roads, making it difficult for trucks, including fuel tankers, to move.
Following the riots on Wednesday, many petrol stations in Maputo closed, rather than risk seeing their stocks of fuel go up in smoke. Those that remained open were subject to a wave of panic buying, as motorists rushed to fill up their tanks.
But the problem was not an absolute shortage of fuel, but the practical difficulties of moving it from the fuel deposits to the petrol pumps.
An AMEPETROL release stressed that it remains committed to supplying and distributing fuel despite the current security challenges on the roads.
"Right now, the country has stocks for 23 days, so there's no risk of a fuel shortage, quite apart from the ships that are on their way to the country to resupply it', said the release.
But AMEPETROL recognised that the fuel distributors are facing difficulties in operating the petrol stations due to the lack of security "which has limited our operations and caused delays in restocking'.
AMEPETROL guaranteed that it is working in close partnership with the government, public institutions, and our suppliers. "This collaboration', it said, "has been fundamental in overcoming the difficulties and ensuring that fuel reaches all those who depend on it safely and efficiently'.
The National Director of Hydrocarbons and Fuel, in the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Moises Paulino, was even more optimistic, putting the level of fuel stocks available at three months worth.
Interviewed by Radio Mozambique, he said there is no fuel shortage, merely difficulties in moving fuel from the oceanic terminals to the petrol stations.
But fuel supply "is not an island', Paulino warned, and was inevitably affected by the rioting. During the riots, about 100 petrol pumps were vandalised.
Sg/pf (365) 1041224E FUTURE GOVERNMENT MUST HELP LOOTED COMPANIES
Maputo, 30 Dec (AIM) - The Mozambican Minister of Industry and Trade, Silvino Moreno, on Saturday warned that the future government (likely to take office in mid-January) will have to find mechanisms to support industrial and commercial activity, deeply damaged by last week's rioting and looting.
He was speaking after a visit to the ruins of a branch of the South African Shoprite chain of supermarkets, in the outlying Maputo neighbourhood of Hulene.
"I came here to express my solidarity with the investors and businesspeople who are losing their property, and to understand their recovery plans', Moreno said.
"The government will have to provide support', he stressed. "In this supermarket I was simply terrified at the level of damage, looting and destruction'.
"Shoprite has been totally destroyed', he added. "They did not just steal food. They also looted specialist equipment and components for refrigeration and communications. This isn't a question of hunger - it's sabotage'.
Moreno stressed that trade exists so that the public can have access to basic products, and something would have to be done quickly so that the supermarkets can recover.
"We shall recommend to the incoming government that bold measures are necessary, to allow the companies, shops and supermarkets that have suffered to get back onto their feet quickly', he said.
The saddest thing Moreno had seen was the ruin of Matola, once the country's largest industrial city. The rioters had attacked, not only large businesses, but also many of the small factories. "It will take a long time for the owners to recover all that they have lost', said the Minister.
The destruction of factories "is very serious', he stressed. "We are cutting away from ourselves the capacity to quickly restore our capacity to feed the population'.
The ruin of so much of the country's food processing industry, Moreno added, "means that we are going to pass through very difficult moments'. The rioters "don't think about tomorrow. This is a disaster'.
Pf/ (330)
1051224E OVER 2,500 MOZAMBICAN HOUSEHOLDS SEEK REFUGE IN MALAWI
Maputo, 30 Dec (AIM) - Over 2,500 households from Morrumbala district, in the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, have entered Nsanje district in Malawi in recent days, fleeing the post-election tension, in which over two thousand people have lost their lives, according to the NGO "Decide' Electoral Platform
Since 21 October, the country has been torn by demonstrations called by the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the decision of the Constitutional Council, the country's highest body in matters of electoral law, which gave victory to the ruling Frelimo party and its candidate, Daniel Chapo.
Mondlane insists that he won the elections held on 9 October, and he claims that the results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and the Constitutional Council are based on fraudulent data.
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The protests have degenerated into violent riots, including the destruction of public and private infrastructures, road blockades and the looting of stores.
According to the Malawian newsheet "The Times', the exodus of Mozambicans intensified on the night of December 26, following an escape of prisoners from the jail in Morrumbala district on December 25.
The authorities have confirmed that all the families who have entered Nsanje came from Morrumbala district, after crossing the Shire River.
The Commissioner of the Department for Refugees, General Ignacio Maulana, said that the flow of refugees from Mozambique to Malawi did not take his institution by surprise, as it was already expected.
"All agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DODMA), among others, are on alert [and know] what is happening in Mozambique', he said.
For his part, the Nsanje District Commissioner (DC), Dominic Mwandira, said that more Mozambicans are expected to enter Malawi.
Nsanje district is in the far south of Malawi. It borders the Mozambican districts of Morrumbala in Zambezia province and Doa and Mutarara in Tete.
The Mozambican refugees are currently sheltering in the communities of Mlolo, Tengani and Mbenje in Nsanje.
"What is challenging is [the availability of] food and other essential items to sustain the Mozambicans. There is an urgent need for food distribution in these areas. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services is registering all the Mozambican families that have entered the country', Mwandira said.
The Malawian press reports that the authorities have set up a camp at Chikonje Primary School in Mlolo and other centres in Tengani and Chazuka.
"Efforts are underway to assess the needs of the affected families and provide them with adequate support', said Charles Kalemba, Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs.
As a result of the social upheaval, Zambia and Malawi recently suspended the import of fuel via the central Mozambican port of Beira.
