Mozambique: Former Prime Minister Luisa Diogo dies

19 January 2026
Mozambique News Reports And Clippings (Milton Keynes, UK)

Luisa Diogo died in Lisbon Friday 16 January after an illness. Born in 1958 in Tete she joined the Ministry of Finance in 1980 while still a student. She became Deputy Minister of Finance in 1994, then Minister of Planning and Finance in 2000. Diogo was Mozambique’s first woman Prime Minister 2004-10. Diogo was part of the dynamic post-independence generation that championed the Frelimo ideals of development, integrity, and advancement of women. She fought against the growing IMF and World Bank pressure to create the corrupt oligarch state.

Diogo ran to become the Frelimo candidate in the 2014 presidential election. Although backed by progressives in Frelimo, she was defeated on the second round of internal voting by the then defence minister, Filipe Nyusi. That pushed her to the edges of Frelimo and she moved to banking. In 2012, she had become Chair of Barclays Bank-Mozambique (later ABSA).

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