Mozambique Ports and Railways suffers losses of €16 million due to protests

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Mozambique Ports and Railways suffers losses of €16 million due to protests

11:25 CAT | 20 Feb 2025

File photo: O País

The company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) recorded losses of around US$17
million (€16 million) during post-election demonstrations in the country, the president of the state-owned company announced yesterday.

"We are now at around US$17 million [in terms of] damages and losses, due to not carrying cargo," Agostinho Langa Júnior said on the sidelines of a public event in Maputo.

The official said that the railway "continues to suffer" from "sporadic stone-throwing" at wagons and locomotives, and that CFM had only today cancelled a passenger train due to new demonstrations in Chokwe, in the southern province of Gaza.

"Passenger trains attract most vandalism, and we were forced to cancel the Chicualacuala
train this morning. The next one is on Sunday and, if there are no problems, we will run the
next train," Junior said.

The CFM president added that, despite the frequency of the protests, the company was managing to replace equipment "very quickly" after vandalism, warning, however, that the
process would inevitably "delay some projects" on the railway.

"We have resisted and will continue to resist, despite our appeal for people to stop this," he stressed.

Mozambique has been experiencing a climate of social unrest since October of last year, with demonstrations and strikes called, at first, by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the election results that gave victory to the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) candidate, Daniel Chapo.

Smaller-scale protests are still taking place in different parts of the country with people, in addition to contesting the October 9 election results, protesting the rising cost of living and other social problems.

Since October, at least 327 people have died, including around two dozen minors, and around 750 have been shot during the protests, according to the electoral platform Decide, a non-governmental organization that monitors electoral processes in Mozambique.

Source: Lusa