State of emergency extension decree provides for “cordon sanitaires” in Mozambique

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State of emergency extension decree provides for “cordon sanitaires” in Mozambique

2:47 CAT | 06 May 2020

Picture: A Verdade

The extension of the Covid-19 State of Emergency counter-measures through Presidential Decree No. 12/2020 of 29 April 2020, now includes the possibility of “adopting the cordon sanitaire” in specific regions of Mozambique, such as that involving Total’s camps on the Afungi Peninsula in Cabo Delgado province.

President Filipe Nyusi took advantage of the extension of the State of Emergency to further limit the movement of people in Mozambique, expand the list of essential services and review the conditions of access to justice.

All procedural and administrative deadlines were suspended, “including disciplinary proceedings”, as were “the statute of limitations and lapse periods relating to all cases and procedures”.

As far as access to justice is concerned, two decisions taken at the beginning of the State of Emergency but which had not been formalised were incorporated.

“During the State of Emergency, the judicial vacation regime applies to procedural acts and judicial procedures, without prejudice to urgent acts, namely precautionary measures, those that must be practiced in cases in which fundamental rights are at stake, such as those related to imprisoned defendants, as well as those related to minors at risk.”

In addition, “The President of the Supreme Court, the President of the Administrative Tribunal and the Attorney General of the Republic may take additional measures deemed appropriate, and the Bar Association of Mozambique may be heard”.

Registry and notary services, as well as banking, insurance and other financial services, are included in the list of essential services.

@Verdade can reveal that the most relevant revision was that of the article on the Limitation of Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, which now provides, as a special restrictive measure, for “limitation of the internal movement of people in any part of the national territory, as long as it is justified by an exponential increase in cases of contamination, with the possibility of adopting a cordon sanitaire”.

In fact, this addition merely formalises the cordon sanitaire imposed, since the 1st of April 2020, on Total’s camps in the Afungi Peninsula, in Cabo Delgado province, which, with 49 infected and hundreds of suspected cases, is still the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in Mozambique.

By Adérito Caldeira