Mozambique: UN pressing government to sign international road safety norms

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Mozambique: UN pressing government to sign international road safety norms

8:13 CAT | 23 Jan 2023

Photo: Twitter / @JeanTodt

The United Nations has expressed concern about the large number of road accidents in Mozambique and asked the government to sign up to international conventions on road safety, a government source told Lusa.

The UN’s Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety , Jean Todt, met with Mozambique’s minister of transport and communications, Mateus Magala, on Thursday in Maputo, and asked the country to join “UN road safety conventions, considering that Mozambique is not part of any of them so far,” said the government source.

Noting the high accident rate recorded on Mozambican roads, Todt advocated mandatory compliance with traffic rules, the real punishment of offenders and improvement of standards.

He also argued for the participation of the private sector and international partners in the implementation of measures to reduce the prevalence of traffic accidents and in training staff in the area.

The minister, for his part, said that preventing road accidents in the country was an urgent priority of the authorities.

Mozambique’s accident rates are classed as dramatic by several organisations working in the field. On average, at least 1,000 people die each year on the country’s roads, according to data provided to Lusa by the Mozambican Association for Victims of Road Insecurity (Amviro), a non-governmental organisation campaigning for safer roads.

A passionate discussion today with the Minister of Transport and Communications of #Mozambique, H.E Dr. Mateus Magala and Deputy Minister @amiltonalissone & team on how to put #roadsafety as priority of the agenda of the country. I look forward to join our efforts in 2023! pic.twitter.com/WDQYjOi8T4

— Jean Todt (@JeanTodt) January 18, 2023