Maputo, Mozambique — A visiting delegation from the African Commission on Human and People's Rights has voiced concern about the overcrowding in Mozambique's prisons, where 70 per cent of inmates were yet to stand trial.

The delegation, led by Malawian lawyer Vera Chirwa, has been in Mozambique since 3 April.

Chirwa and her delegation visited prisons and police cells in Maputo, the southern province of Gaza, and the western province of Tete.

At a press conference they said the situation (overcrowding) was the same everywhere.

Their findings about 70 per cent of the inmates still awaiting trial tallied with reports issued by the office of the Attorney-General.

In May 1999 a joint dispatch from the Justice and Interior ministries, the President of the Supreme Court and the Attorney-General ordered an end to overcrowding in the prisons.

But two years later there has been no significant change, and the prisons remain full of persons on remand.

"All prison directors said they wanted to improve the prison conditions," Chirwa told reporters, "but because of budgetary constraints they were unable to do so."

Chirwa said that the main prisons in Maputo do not meet "minimum standards" of caring for the inmates, and noted that in Maputo central prison, the failed sanitation system posed a major threat to the health of inmates.

"One of our recommendations is to increase the quantity, and sometimes the quality, of the food. The prisoners say they receive meat once in a blue moon," she said.

She also noted a shortage of medicines, beds and blankets.

The delegation was also shocked at the current police crackdown in Maputo, "rounding up just anyone who doesn't have an identity card." Chirwa warned that this could only worsen overcrowding in the jails.

The delegation would write up a report, a copy of which would be sent to President Joaquim Chissano, Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi, and the Justice and Interior ministers.

The African Commission on Human and People's Rights is a body set up by the OAU to implement the African Charter on Human and People's Rights.

Chirwa was recently appointed as its special rapporteur on prisons, and her visit to Mozambique was her first inspection tour since taking up office.