Sernic arrests three in possession of ironwood in Cabo Delgado
File photo / President Filipe Nyusi
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday challenged the members of his government to commit themselves to ensuring the safety and food security of the public, at a time when the country is being lashed by storms which have so far claimed the lives of over 40 people.
Nyusi was opening the first meeting this year of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), held to discuss the emergency situation, following the declaration of an orange alert throughout the country.
The government’s Disaster Management Technical Council (CTGC) declared the alert last week bearing in mind that heavy rains and high winds are forecast to continue in the weeks ahead.
Serious flooding has already occurred in the basin of the Save river, inundating the towns of Nova Mambone in Inhambane province and Machanga in Sofala. Also in Sofala, the Pungoe and Buzi rivers have risen to above flood alert level.
Nyusi insisted that people living in flood prone areas must be moved, by coercion if necessary, for their own safety. This was not negotiable.
He pointed out that the dangerous areas are also places that attract mosquitoes, and are highly malarial. People who insisted on living in such areas were risking their own health.
“People living in these areas must be moved, and that must be done across the entire country”, said the President. “Those people already know that the waters can harm them, and so they have to be moved”.
There was no room for discussion. For Nyusi, it made no sense to negotiate the transfer of households to safer areas. “They have to leave”, he insisted. “It’s damaging to leave people whom we know are already in the water”.
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