Minister of the Sea gets seat on Mozambique National Security Council

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Minister of the Sea gets seat on Mozambique National Security Council

2:07 CAT | 27 May 2019

in file CoM

The Frelimo parliamentary bench on Thursday (May 23) approved the inclusion of the Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries on the National Council of Defence and Security (CNDS).

Renamo voted against on the grounds that including the portfolio as a member of the CNDS was irrelevant, while the MDM did not participate in the debate because it does not recognise deputy Geraldo de Carvalho as their legitimate representative on the commission for Defence, Security and Public Order, he having left the party.

Commending the revision of the law regulating the organisation, composition and functioning of the CNDS, Minister of National Defence Salvador Mtumuke said that the inclusion represented the fact that the sea was “a gigantic territory and the source of much wealth”.

According to the government, “it is the place where terrorist acts begin or complement each other, and where the scourge of piracy serves as a route to the illicit trade in arms, drugs, timber and illegal fishing”, among other illegal activities.

Minister Mtumuke added that it was for the purpose of regulating demand for the fruits of the ocean that the government had created the Ministry of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries and the maritime courts. “The sea also plays a significant role in the framework of national sovereignty,” he noted.

Speaking for Frelimo, Deputy Isaura Júlio said the revision was “pertinent and timely, since the measure aims to improve the operationalisation of the CNDS as an organ of the state, of specific consultation of the President of the Republic on matters of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the defence of democratically established power”.

Renamo, the country’s largest opposition party, voted against the proposal because it believes that including the Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries in the CNDS is irrelevant, since “whether or not he is in the CNDS, he plays the role of adviser to the President of the Republic”.

Renamo deputies in the Parliamentary Commission on Defence, Security and Public Order are of the opinion that, while it is true that the sea, inland waters and fisheries are of great importance in the defence and safeguarding of the interests of the state, “the proposal should also include the Minister of Agriculture and Food Safety; Land, Environment and Rural Development; and that of Science and Technology, because these also work in critical areas”.

According to Renamo, in these areas too “actions are developed that constitute the practice of smuggling, types of terrorism such as organised crime, poaching, illegal logging and other illegal activities”.

Source: A Verdade