Mozambique

Mozambique’s newly elected President, Armando Guebuza, on Wednesday took over the reigns from long-serving leader Joaquim Chissano with a pledge to step up the fight against poverty, bureaucracy and corruption. ”We want to bring about a more accelerated rhythm towards a better future, which translates in a sharp reduction of poverty,” Guebuza said.

Armando Guebuza, one of Mozambique’s richest businessmen and a stalwart of the ruling party and the country’s fight against Portuguese colonial rule, crowned his political career on Tuesday by being elected president in key polls. Guebuza inflicted a crushing defeat on main opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama in the polls.

Mozambique’s ruling party and its presidential candidate, Armando Guebuza, have secured a landslide victory in polls to choose a successor to veteran leader Joaquim Chissano amid opposition outrage and demands for new elections. Opposition party Renamo and 20 smaller parties on Tuesday demanded fresh elections.

Former rebel leader and opposition candidate Afonso Dhlakama on Friday demanded fresh elections in Mozambique, accusing the ruling Frelimo party of ”criminal fraud” during two days of voting for a new president and Parliament. Dhlakama accused Frelimo of preventing millions from casting their ballots.

The Mozambican Parliament on Tuesday unanimously adopted a new Constitution for the first time since the advent of multiparty politics in the Southern African nation. The new Constitution adopted on Tuesday will come into force after elections on December 1 and 2 to elect a successor to President Joaquim Chissano.

Mozambique’s National Elections Commission has announced it will not give observers access to all stages of the vote counting in December’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The decision has prompted an angry objection from the European Union, which plans to send one of the largest observer missions to the election.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe wrapped up a three-day state visit to Mozambique on Wednesday by playing down the economic and social turmoil in his country. Mugabe told journalists the meeting with Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano was very fruitful and the two had discussed the state of his own country.

Mozambique’s national police chief on Wednesday called on armed members of a former rebel movement to surrender their weapons following a gun battle in Sofala province last week that left one policeman dead. ”It’s about time the Renamo men give up their weapons and join the police as the [1992] peace accord envisaged,” he said.

A ,2-billion natural-gas project led by South Africa’s petrochemical giant Sasol in neighbouring Mozambique has fuelled hopes for the economic recovery of the country’s once-vibrant southern hub. With the Matola gas project, Mozambique also hopes to cut its annual fuel imports by about -million.

Police in northern Mozambique have enlisted the help of local hunters to kill lions and other wild animals following a recent spate of attacks on locals, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. ”The populations of these areas have lived in an atmosphere of fear because of the high presence of wild animals out of control,” police said.

Vodacom Mozambique, a subsidiary of South African mobile services provider Vodacom, last week reached the 100 000 customer milestone after commencing commercial operations in one of Africa’s most promising economies in December last year.

Nigeria plans to launch software that would help catch people who send scam letters via e-mail, known as the 419 advance fee fraud, a meeting on the sidelines of Africa’s World Economic Forum has heard. The new technology, which would identify key words used in the e-mails, is likely to be made available to internet service providers and government departments.

South Africa on Thursday called for a tough stance on corruption, a key barrier to economic growth in Africa, proposing a name-and-shame campaign against big companies involved in the practice. ”Clearly, corruption is a very big issue,” South Africa’s Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said at the World Economic Forum for Africa.

Botswana ranks as Africa’s top competitive economy, ahead of other powerhouses such as South Africa and Nigeria, according to a survey by the World Economic Forum released on Wednesday at the opening of a three-day conference on business in Africa in the Mozambican capital of Maputo.

Mozambique said on Friday it is stepping up a prevention campaign against malaria, the country’s third-biggest killer after cholera and Aids, by encouraging the use of mosquito nets and looking at new treatments. Malaria killed 3 200 people in Mozambique last year out of a total of 4,5-million cases.

The Roman Catholic Church in Mozambique’s northern Nampula region on Thursday insisted its claims of a human organ-trafficking network operating in the province and targeting children were true. The church demanded a continued probe to bring the alleged criminals to book.

South Africa’s Deputy President Jacob Zuma promised Mozambicans on Saturday that the truth about an air crash that claimed the life of their communist leader Samora Machel in 1986 would be uncovered. Machel died when the plane he was travelling in crashed in northern South Africa on October 19 1986.

The cholera death toll in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, since Christmas has risen to 20, health authorities said on Thursday. Deputy national health director Avertino Barreto said about 250 people were being treated daily for the waterborne disease at the Mavalane hospital in the east coast port city.

White Zimbabwean commercial farmers have created more than 4 000 jobs in neighbouring Mozambique, where they settled after being ousted from their land back home, a regional governor said on Tuesday. He said there are about 100 Zimbabwean farmers in the fertile districts of Manica province.

A sudden storm with winds gusting up to 75kph killed a child, injured 78 people and displaced hundreds of families in the southern Mozambique town of Moamba, state radio reported on Monday. The storm lasted barely 10 minutes on Saturday afternoon, but razed hundreds of flimsy homes.

African leaders meeting in Mozambique this week for the second African Union (AU) summit said the fight against HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) was a priority for the continent, and a new regional effort which would demand greater financial support from the international community was needed.

Heads of state opening talks at the African Union (AU) summit on Wednesday night will focus on ways to implement an ambitious plan for the economic recovery of Africa.

Dozens of armed police on Thursday stormed Mozambique’s Parliament to try to restore order after opposition lawmakers brought business to a halt for the second day running.

The leaders of three southern African countries are due to sign a treaty that will bring into existence the world’s largest game park, the 95 000-square-kilometre, cross-border Great Limpopo National Park.