Mozambique cannot continue “accommodating conflicts” with gas wealth at the door – Nyusi

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Mozambique cannot continue “accommodating conflicts” with gas wealth at the door – Nyusi

2:51 CAT | 13 Nov 2019

Photo: Twitter / @CWCAfrica

President Filipe Nyusi said today that Mozambique cannot continue to put up with conflicts, because it “has everything it needs to succeed”, with oil and gas investments capable of “rapidly make it prosperous”.

“The country has everything it needs to succeed, but it depends on us Mozambicans,” he said, “including the security aspects” that the authorities have been dealing with.

“We cannot remain distracted by conflicts hampering the future and growth of a nation which may very rapidly become prosperous,” with the momentum of natural gas investments, the president added.

The head of state was speaking today at the opening of the 6th Mozambique Gas Summit, an annual event which is bringing together companies in the sector just three years before the start of production and export of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Filipe Nyusi was making a call for security at a time when there are threats in both the centre and north of the country.

In the centre, armed groups have killed 10 people since August in attacks on civilians and authorities in a stronghold of opposition Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) guerrillas. The Renamo leadership has distanced itself from the violence, saying it is fully committed to the August peace agreement.

In the north, a wave of attacks originating from radicalised mosques in Cabo Delgado province is thought to have killed 300 people in the region where the LNG megaprojects are developing.

“Every Mozambican is called upon to bear this individual and collective responsibility,” to defend the peace and security of the country, “because it is from this responsibility that the country may develop,” said Nyusi, re-elected on October 15 for a second five-year term, and with his party, the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), extending its parliamentary majority to two thirds of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic.

Liquefied natural gas megaprojects will start production in 2022 and are expected to place Mozambique among the world’s largest producers over the next ten years, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting that the country’s economy could grow by more than 10 percent a year.

Investments of around US$50 billion (€45.4 billion) are being made by two consortia operating in Rovuma Basin Areas 1 and 4, offshore northern Mozambique, and led by oil majors Total, ExxonMobil and Eni.

Source: Lusa