Mozambique: Wife of kidnapped businessman presents new petition to parliament

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Mozambique: Wife of kidnapped businessman presents new petition to parliament

10:26 CAT | 07 Dec 2018

Photo: Lusa

The wife of a Portuguese businessman who was kidnapped in Sofala, central Mozambique in 2016, presented a new petition on Thursday to the Mozambican parliament to once again “request help” to find Américo Sebastião’s body.

“I will not give up. Today I am here, once again, asking for the help and intervention of this chamber and I will continue,” said Salomé Sebastião after handing the document to the Mozambican parliament.

This is the third petition the family of Américo Sebastião have given to the parliament, despite the previous two not having been considered.

“Constitutionally, the parliament is the only body with the exclusive competence to define the defence and security policy, as heard by the national defence and security council,” Sebastião said. “There is a missing citizen and we need to find mechanisms to get him back home.”

She also presented copies of the petition to the three Mozambican parliamentary benches, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, governing party), Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo, main opposition party), and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM).

Sebastião went missing on 29 July 2016 at a service station in Nhamapadza, where he was kidnapped by armed men.

According to his family, the kidnappers used his bank cards and were able to withdraw €4,000 before his accounts were blocked.

Portugal has offered judicial cooperation to find Américo Sebastião, but the Mozambican authorities turned down the offer.

At the end of October, the provincial prosecutor’s office in Sofala announced the filing of the investigations on the disappearance of Américo Sebastião, claiming that no information had been found to clarify the case.

Source: Lusa