Portuguese authorities “very concerned” about disappearance of Portuguese citizen

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Portuguese authorities “very concerned” about disappearance of Portuguese citizen

10:52 CAT | 08 Mar 2017

O ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Augusto Santos Silva, fala aos deputados da Comissão de Negócios Estrangeiros e Comunidades Portuguesas, na Assembleia da República, Lisboa, 02 de fevereiro de 2016. ANTÓNIO COTRIM/LUSA

A Bola (File photo) / Portugal's Foreign minister Augusto Samtos Silva

The Portuguese authorities are “very concerned” about the lack of information on the whereabouts of the Portuguese businessman missing since the middle of last year, the Portuguese foreign minister told Lusa on Friday.

‘The Portuguese authorities – the President of the Republic and the government – are very concerned, as is their duty, with regard to the disappearance of a fellow citizen in a region of Mozambique, especially with regard to the fact that, several months after it occurred, we have no concrete information telling them (family) of the fate, the destination or the whereabouts of this fellow citizen,” Augusto Santos Silva said.

A week ago, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry reported that the Mozambican interior minister “gave an account” in Lisbon to the president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and to the prime minister, António Costa, “that investigations by the Mozambican authorities on the situation of the Portuguese citizen who disappeared in Mozambique in mid-2016 continue”.

Mozambican Minister Jaime Basílio Monteiro transmitted this information as the envoy of President Filipe Nyusi.

The Portuguese businessman has been missing for eight months, after being taken, it is thought, by persons unknown to the Gorongosa district, an area with a strong Defence and Security Forces presence and where the armed wing of Renamo has always maintained bases.

“We have done everything we can from a diplomatic and political point of view to obtain information on this case. The Mozambican authorities tell us that they are carrying out the necessary police and judicial investigations,” Santos Silva said.

“The very positive steps taken last week in the political dialogue between the Mozambican government and Renamo could improve the conditions for these police investigations to be effective,” he added.

Last Friday, Afonso Dhlakama, president of Renamo, Mozambique’s main opposition’s party, announced the extension of the truce in force since December with the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces for another 60 days, expressing confidence that a final agreement would be reached.

Portugal is awaiting developments in the case of the missing Portuguese man and has offered the Mozambican authorities “any cooperation they deem necessary and useful, whether at the police or judicial level”.

“The Mozambican authorities say that it is necessary to create conditions of security so that the police can do a more effective job, and they think that now there will be an improvement in these conditions,” Santos Silva said.

Asked if the delay in Mozambique’s official response troubled the Portuguese government, the minister replied: “It is not a matter of being troubled or satisfied. It is a question of doing our job, which is to always ensure that the interests and rights of the Portuguese are being respected.”

Source: Lusa