Mozambique: Beira mayor seeks more help from Portugal in post-cyclone rebuilding

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Mozambique: Beira mayor seeks more help from Portugal in post-cyclone rebuilding

2:11 CAT | 29 Jan 2020

Photo: Conselho Municipal da Beira / Facebook

The mayor of Beira, Mozambique’s second city, has said that it is still two-thirds short of the approximately $900 million (€817 million) needed for rebuilding after last year’s cyclones, and called on Portugal to do more to help.

“We need around 900 million dollars,” Daviz Simango, the president of Beira’s city council, told Lusa in Lisbon late on Tuesday. “At the moment we have already been able to mobilise at least a third, which is very good. But we need to mobilise more.”

The funds already received came from the World Bank, the Netherlands government, the Union of Portuguese-Language Capital Cities (UCCLA), Portuguese municipalities and a German bank, Simango said. Now, though, the other two-thirds is needed.

“The Portuguese will not be able to contribute to everything alone,” he acknowledged. “But we want the international donor community to do so. And they have been doing it drop by drop and each one in its way.

“The Portuguese have done their job, but can also help with other European countries, the European [Investment] Bank and other institutions,” Simango argued, stressing that “the role of Portugal can be that of a godfather.”

Simango, who has been in Lisbon since Friday and returns to Mozambique on Wednesday, had made a public presentation at UCCLA’s Lisbon headquarters on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Beira after last year’s Cyclones Idai and Kenneth.

“I have come to thank you for the solidarity of the Portuguese and the entire Portuguese community for their efforts and remind them that we are still in a process of reconstruction and to call on them to continue their effort, because Beira still needs much more”, the mayor said on the sidelines of the public event.

He said he asked UCCLA to “intercede with the various partners” to complete the reconstruction.

“We are ready for whatever comes from the Portuguese authorities or from private institutions to continue serving the population of Beira,” he said.

For now, he has received a pledge by Camões – Institute of Cooperation and Language – a unit of Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs – and from Lisbon city council of support for the construction of a library in his city, as well as training for its future staff.

Simango added that “a new hospital is under construction and both the Camões Institute and the municipality of Lisbon will join forces to support it.

“And, of course, UCCLA will continue to be the gateway to the success of mobilising” such support, he added.

Cyclone Idai hit central Mozambique, particularly affecting the city of Beira, on the night of 14 March. It left more than 600 dead and affected about 1.5 million people, in addition to destroying various pieces of infrastructure.

The following month, some parts of Cabo Delgado province were hit by Cyclone Kenneth, which claimed 45 lives and affected another 250,000 people.

Between November and April, Mozambique is regularly hit by cyclones from the Indian Ocean and floods originating in the southern African watersheds.

In total, 714 people died during the 2018/2019 rainy season, including the 648 victims of Cyclones Idai and Kenneth.

Source: Lusa