Moatize residents ask governor for food aid – Tete, Mozambique

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Moatize residents ask governor for food aid – Tete, Mozambique

8:40 CAT | 23 Mar 2016

In File Club of Mozambique

Residents of Moatize district, in the western Mozambican province of Tete, on Saturday asked the government for food aid, in the wake of hunger provoked by the drought that has devastated agriculture in this district.

The cry for help came at a rally in Moatize town, addressed by Tete provincial governor, Paulo Auade, after a two day working visit to the district. According to figures released by the provincial government, the drought has affected about 130,000 households in the province.

During the rally several people told the governor of their plight, saying that their food reserves are now exhausted and that they expect to harvest nothing from their fields, where the crops they planted have shriveled in the drought.

One of the residents went to the podium to show the governor one of the wild fruits that Moatize families are reduced to eating. “Normally we eat this fruit occasionally, even when food is abundant, but now it has become our basic diet”, said Silveria Manuel.

She was supported by Elisio Felix who assured the governor that people in Moatize are indeed resorting to wild fruits for survival.

“We ask the government to find ways of assisting the affected people, so that no deaths occur”, urged Felix.

Speakers at the rally also declared that “with military clashes, the people will never produce anything”, and urged Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Renamo, to accept the offer made by President Filipe Nyusi for face-to-face talks to achieve a lasting peace.

“We don’t want war, because it destroys what has already been built with much sacrifice, and kills Mozambicans”, said Feliz. “With war, we can’t do anything, even on our fields, because the peasants are afraid they will die”.

Auade said the concerns expressed have merited consideration by the government, since Tete province is indeed suffering severely from drought. He urged his audience to transmit to others the spirit of internal solidarity, as has been the tradition of Mozambicans who have never left their neighbours to starve to death.

As for resuming dialogue with Renamo, Auade said that Nyusi is committed to peace and so has always been willing to meet with Dhlakama. He urged the crowd not to be taken in by the Renamo claims that Dhlakama had won the October 2014 presidential election, when the reality was that Frelimo and Nyusi were the true winners

Auade urged members of the Renamo militia to hand over their guns and rejoin society, helping to develop the country, rather than remaining in the bush.

Source: AIM