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This Thursday (23) will see the Portuguese airline TAP’s second repatriation flight from Lisbon to Maputo, following a previous flight on July 16.
Flights to and from Mozambique have been cancelled under the state of emergency, the coronavirus outbreak disrupting the lives and plans of many Mozambicans who had travelled to Portugal for purposes including tourism, medical treatment and family reunification. About a hundred are still stranded there.
Gilmar da Conceição, one of those targeted, reports that groups of three, four or five Mozambicans are sharing a single room as a result of financial constraints.
“Because they have been here for more than three, four months and have nothing to eat, they have nowhere to sleep. But through solidarity, one Mozambican helps the other. And we try to survive,” he reports.
Gilmar da Conceição is one of the passengers travelling this Thursday by TAP on the second humanitarian flight for the repatriation of Mozambicans stranded Portugal for weeks by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I came to do my doctorate in Economics. I was due to return in May, but I was held back because of Covid-19. I already intended to return and, with many difficulties, with the help of family, I managed to put together enough to be able to return on this 23rd July flight,” he says.
Prohibitive prices
The high fares charged by the Portuguese airline – around €1,630 for a one-way ticket – is just one of the inconveniences for the many families stranded in Portugal, and has aroused criticism among those who still want to return to Mozambique.
“This flight on the 23rd is no longer a humanitarian flight but a commercial flight, because for someone to get €1,600 in a difficult situation is really complicated,” the Mozambican said.
Mendes Afonso Chongo is among the vast majority of Mozambicans who cannot afford that ticket
“Even for the next flight, in a week, I believe nobody will be able to pay for it. So, we must ask: are we talking about repatriation flights, or is it just a commercial flight what is being done at this time with this opening [announced by] the Mozambican head of state [Filipe Nyusi] in the name of reciprocity, in the face of flights from Portugal to Mozambique and vice versa?” he asks.
“Because, in fact, this flight has nothing humanitarian about it. It is another commercial flight. I don’t know whether or not TAP is trying to take advantage of [the situation] or has there been an understanding with the [Mozambican] government? I cannot be definitive on this. They [TAP] are inflexible. You have the money, you buy the ticket. Not having no money, there is no room for negotiation,” Mendes Afonso Chongo says.
In need in Portugal
There are reports of Mozambicans in Portugal with no financial resources who, if they do not leave, risk being evicted. Some are selling their possessions in Mozambique to pay for return tickets.
Benedito Jaime Monjane, from Braga, a promoter of the movement warning about the situation of Mozambicans through social networks, was one of the first to show his indignation at the obstacles to repatriation.
“We took the initiative to send [to the Embassy in Lisbon] last week another exceptional petition [on behalf of] this large number who have no financial resources to buy the TAP ticket for the 23rd, this being the last opportunity, and also asking about any opening that there was in relation to the government of Mozambique,” he explains.
Returning with LAM
In light of this, the Mozambican government made approaches and negotiated with TAP an alternative flight on the 29th of this month through the Mozambique Airlines (LAM), at an average price of €750 one way[around 61 thousand meticais at current exchange rates]. This was one of the issues discussed on Tuesday (21-07), at a meeting at the Mozambican Embassy in Lisbon with part of the group who signed the petition.
The group argues that the Mozambican government should pay €250 of the €750 ticket price for those who are unable to find the money. For those who already had a ticket back to Mozambique, “it is a cost that was not foreseen”, says Gilmar da Conceição, asking for prices to be re-examined “so that everyone can return”. “If it costs €750, some will travel and the others will not, because this is still a commercial, non-humanitarian price,” he warns.
Insufficient help
Benedito Monjane, organiser of the “Hostages of Repatriation” group, welcomes the solidarity of the Mozambican government, but says that, of the 90 remaining passengers listed, 60 are unable to pay the full €750 fare negotiated with LAM.
“There are 60 people who are willing to pay €500. So, we want to explore the possibility of the Government subsidising the €250 difference, since this is our national flag carrier,” he says.
DW Africa has however learned, through that group, that the Mozambican travel agency Cotur has already started selling tickets, and the €750 ones have already sold out, without students in Portugal managing to buy any for the flight on the 29th
The ‘Hostages of Repatriation’ are indignant, because they do not “understand what is happening” and regret that there is an “invisible hand” still willing to take advantage of the Mozambicans stranded in Portugal.
Angolans also try to return
Likewise, despite the Angolan government having announced repatriation flights by the national airline, TAAG, from this Friday (24-07), Angolans still in Portugal also have complaints. Among several, DW Africa spoke to Elsa Vasco, who arrived on March 4, together with her husband, to undergo surgery. She is pleased to be part of the first group returning home.
“Although it was late, it was a good initiative, but it could have been better. Our consulate should take better care of us. Nobody told us in advance. We were all lost – in the lost and found, until a group was created [by Mr. Sérgio Rodrigues, TPA presenter] and [people] started trying to solve [the problems] as well as he could, where he was able,” she says.
The Angolan patient complains about the lack of timely information on the part of the consulate and – although she has been able to obtain the prior testing for the coronavirus required by TAAG – she sympathises with people in financial difficulties who cannot afford to meet this requirement on the eve of the flights.
“We have also been informed that anyone with Covid has to stay where they are. What situation is that person going to be in? We are Angolans and we all have to go home, with or without Covid. Three weeks ago, I called the consulate because of a lady who is diagnosed with Covid and the consulate simply replied that it could not do anything, because the responsibility lay purely and simply with the hospital,” Elsa says.
Limited information
Angolan journalist Elisa Coelho says that the government’s first position was that tests were not mandatory for Angolans stranded outside Angola. “But anyone who could take the test in the country of departure enjoyed the prerogative of, in Angola, fulfilling only seven days of quarantine. After that, the Angolan Government would make another test”, explains the Angolan citizen.
“For example, we who are here in Portugal, if we were unable to take the test before boarding, we would be obliged to stay for 14 days under quarantine. But [this week] the plan has already changed. They say that everyone is obliged to do it. And [the tests] are not for free. We have to spay out of our pocket and people are broke “, he concludes.
The repatriation operation sponsored by the Government of Luanda because of Covid-19 aims to support the return of fellow citizens in several countries, including the approximately seven thousand Angolans stranded in Portugal.
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