Portuguese ambassador confronted with security concerns in Cabo Delgado

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Portuguese ambassador confronted with security concerns in Cabo Delgado

7:35 CAT | 28 Apr 2021

Photo: Embaixada de Portugal em Maputo on Facebook

The Portuguese ambassador to Mozambique, António Costa Moura, was on Monday confronted with the security concerns of Portuguese nationals living in the province of Cabo Delgado, the scene of attacks that have caused thousands of deaths and displaced persons.

On a visit to Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado, António Castro Moura admitted that the questions that the Portuguese were asking him a month after the attack on Palma, in the extreme north of the province, “have a lot to do with the security issue”.

The attacks were reportedly triggered by Islamic State-linked extremists, and have led the French oil company Total to suspend operations in the Afungi natural gas exploration complex near Palma, a €20 billion investment on which Mozambique is betting its future.

“We are dealing with a threat of a global, complex nature, which we need to be very aware of,” Costa Moura said yesterday at the start of a three-day visit to the province to promote the renewal of official Portuguese documents with the support of the consulate of Beira.

“Security is a horizontal issue that concerns us all,” acknowledged the diplomat, who on Monday met provincial governor Valige Tauabo and the secretary of state, Armindo Ngunga.

Regarding Total’s decision, Costa Moura stressed that “the withdrawal or suspension of Total’s activities in Afungi is something that concerns the company, and therefore it is not for the Portuguese state to comment”.

Having lived in Pemba for nine years, Paula Rodrigues admitted that the humanitarian crisis and violence in the province were affecting the daily lives of the Portuguese in the region.

“We are going to live our lives as normally as possible, while still concerned about the situation in Palma, concerned about the news,” she said. “We try to live as normally as possible,” she reiterated.

Carlos Conceição, the owner of several houses and a restaurant in Pemba, is more apprehensive about the future. “Our main concern has to do with security. We will see what happens (…). We have all lost business here.”

With the announced resumption of work on the gas project before the Palma attack, “Pemba was going to move and move again, but everything stopped” and “all companies are registering losses”, he explained.

“The only thing that can help is for Total to start work again,” he said.

At the meeting with the Portuguese community, the ambassador discussed with businesspeople the possibility of national companies operating in the area working on construction projects in the district capital towns, recalling the European Union’s €4.2 million More Employment training project, which Portugal coordinates in Mozambique.