Mozambique: CPLP to send delegation to crisis-hit north – Cabo Verde minister

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Mozambique: CPLP to send delegation to crisis-hit north – Cabo Verde minister

11:26 CAT | 03 May 2021

File photo: Lusa

The foreign minister of Cabo Verde, which currently holds the presidency of the Community of Portuguese-Language Countries (CPLP), has said that the organisation has decided to send a delegation to Mozambique in the light of the security and humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, in the north of that country.

“The Mozambican authorities have clearly said they appreciate and are aware of what they can get from the international community, especially from Portuguese-language countries, from our community, and we have reached agreement on what may be able to be done,” said Rui Figueiredo Soares, who as minister of Cabo Verde chairs the CPLP council of ministers.

But, he went on, “this will require our intervention, a visit by a delegation, at a level we are defining, so that we can respond to Mozambique’s needs in this area.”

At a meeting of ambassadors to the CPLP, he said, “there was an understanding that when the time was right we would have a delegation in Mozambique to assess what the CPLP can do” but that there is still “no exact date” for the delegation’s visit to the country, as it has to be discussed with the Mozambican authorities, who “will assess the best time to do so.”

According to Soares, according to the proposal made at the ambassadors’ meeting, the delegation should visit between now and June. “But we are now assessing with the Mozambican authorities the opportunity and the best date,” he added.

At the same time, he said, the CPLP is still defining what type of delegation it will send, whether ministers, ambassadors or members of the organisation’s executive secretariat.

This lack of definition also relates to the fact that Cabo Verde had a general election very recently, on 18 April, and a new government has not yet taken office.

Even so, Soares said the delegation’s visit would “certainly” take place during Cabo Verde’s presidency, which runs to July.

The issue of Cabo Delgado “has to do essentially and primarily with Mozambique,” he stressed. “So it is necessary that in this process any support, any gesture, has to be agreed with the Mozambican authorities.

“All of us, friendly countries, especially those of the community, will be available to respond to the needs of the Mozambican government in this area,” said Figueiredo, while stressing that the situation in Cabo Delgado is “delicate”.

Ministro da Defesa @JoaoCravinho recebeu hoje o homólogo de #Cabo Verde, Rui Figueiredo Soares. Foram abordados temas bilaterais, #CPLP, #Atlantic Centre e cooperação no domínio da defesa. pic.twitter.com/pygxclKRxv

— Defesa Nacional (@defesa_pt) April 29, 2021

Armed groups have terrorised Cabo Delgado since 2017, with responsibility for some attacks claimed by the local affiliate of the Islamic State, in a wave of violence that has claimed more than 2,500 lives, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and displaced some 714,000 people, according to Mozambique’s government.

In March, an attack on the town of Palma saw dozens killed and many more injured, with the total figures still unclear.

The authorities have since regained control of the town, but the attack prompted Total, a French multinational, to abandon the nearby site of a planned natural gas project indefinitely. The project had been scheduled to start production in 2024, and on it hangs many of Mozambique’s economic growth expectations for the next decade.

The CPLP’s members are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe.

Source: Lusa