Mozambique: Almost 150 business people kidnapped, 100 left the country over 12 years – CTA

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Mozambique: Almost 150 business people kidnapped, 100 left the country over 12 years – CTA

2:58 CAT | 25 Jul 2024

Almost 150 businesspeople have been kidnapped in Mozambique in the last 12 years and 100 have left the country for fear of the same, the CTA business confederation said this Thursday (25-07), arguing that “enough is enough”.

“The numbers are already on their way to 150 [kidnap victims]. More than a hundred have left the country. We are not talking about those who held administrative or management positions; if we count those there are many more. We are talking about those who held the capital, who were shareholders in companies,” president of the CTA’s security and private protection department, Pedro Baltazar, told a press conference in Maputo.

The last two of these kidnappings of businesspeople took place in Maputo, on Saturday and Monday, one of which ended with the death of a police officer in an exchange of gunfire with armed kidnappers on the public road.

“The approximately 12 years since the first abduction occurred is, we believe, more than enough time for the government […] to put an end to this evil. Therefore, we reiterate the need for the government to accept the measures proposed by the private sector,” Baltazar said.

“The phenomenon of kidnappings leaves behind it a trail of unemployed people. With each kidnapping, each time a businessman leaves Mozambique, he leaves [unemployed] workers behind,” Baltazar stressed, estimating the impact on the economy and employment in the country at “billions of dollars”.

He added that the CTA has held meetings and communications with the government, the latest of which, after consulting businesspeople, was a letter of recommendations sent on July 17 to Prime Minister Adriano Maleiane and Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda.

“The business community as a whole has been exerting pressure so that we can take radical measures to pressure the Government. You yourselves have heard that businesspeople, for example, have threatened to paralyze commercial activity. As leaders we have been managing these pressures; the government is our partner, and that is why we opted for dialogue. But at some point we may not be able to sustain this pressure and the measures that businesspeople have been proposing will come into effect,” he warned.

Specifically, businesspeople insist on “strategic measures”, namely in terms of reviewing the criminal frameworks that involve these crimes, because “something has to change”.

They also want to “strengthen the national security system”, with more investment in the security forces.

READ: Mozambique: Kidnappings generate over 33 million dollars in money laundering – AIM report

“The phenomenon of kidnappings will not be resolved with measures that do not involve a serious investment in the Defence and Security Forces,” Baltazar said. “We will not wait for miracles to occur. For example, there is a system that has already been implemented, which perhaps needs repair or to be reviewed, which is surveillance in the cities of Maputo and Matola – a pilot project that at a certain point was abandoned.”

The third measure requested by the CTA is the “creation and operationalization of the specialised anti-kidnapping brigade”, which has been on the table for some years on the part of the government: “We once heard the Prime Minister say that this brigade was already being formed. It seems that the entry into operation of this brigade is as far off as from here to Pemba, and we continue to insist that it is extremely important that this brigade enters into operation,” Baltazar said.

The CTA official says some of the businesspeople who left Mozambique due to the wave of kidnappings manage their businesses from abroad, while others do not even dare enter the national market.

“The kidnappings have been discouraging the intention of foreign investors in Mozambique. If until 2012 there was a great desire to make investments, at this moment, those who still hope to invest hold back and do not invest because they are informed by those who are here, some of whom are seriously considering leaving Mozambique,” Baltazar lamented.

The Mozambican police registered a total of 185 cases of kidnappings until March and at least 288 people were detained on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime since 2011, the Interior Minister previously said.

Source: Lusa