Mozambique: Portugal and South Africa Will Only Send Ministers & EU Will Only Send Ambassadors To Investiture of Chapo

President-elect Daniel Chapo will be inaugurated after the contested elections in October 2024. Protests against the results continue, with a growing daily death toll.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will not attend the investiture of Daniel Chapo. Instead, he will send his foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, to represent Portugal. They reached what is described as “an intermediate solution" after the Portuguese parliament called on the government not to recognise the election, reported the newspaper Publico.

Citing a diplomat, the paper says “There is a serious internal problem in Mozambique, which obliges us to be prudent. Sending a minister and not the President shows that Portugal recognises that something is not right in Mozambique.” Rebelo de Sousa has attended all investitures in the countries of the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries), except for Equatorial Guinea, where his absence was interpreted as “a political signal”.

João Lourenço and Cyril Ramaphosa, the presidents of Angola and South Africa, will also not attend. South Africa will be represented by its Foreign Minister, Ronald Lamola. CPLP members will send their foreign ministers.

Many countries, including members of the European Union and of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will only be represented by ambassadors.

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