The disappearance of Américo Sebastião “is not an affair of state “

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The disappearance of Américo Sebastião “is not an affair of state “

4:55 CAT | 05 Jul 2019

The President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, said in Lisbon that the disappearance of entrepreneur Américo Sebastião was not an affair of state, but instead a concrete case that the Mozambican government had done everything in its power to clarify.

“I wanted the Portuguese to realize that this is not an affair of state, at least not on the part of Mozambique. Things like these have happened a lot in Mozambique during the 16 years of conflict. I have a lot of Mozambicans missing, I have a lot of foreigners missing – all kinds of people, including several Portuguese,” President Nyusi said.

The head of state was speaking to journalists at the Foz Palace during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa at the end of the Fourth Economic Summit between the two countries.

Acknowledging that the disappearance of any citizen was a problem of “the stability of a country”, President Nyusi said that the “number one concern” of the Mozambican authorities was to understand how a citizen residing in Mozambique could disappear without trace.

“It cannot happen,” Nyusi said, adding that the Mozambican government, in the person of its justice and security services, had done everything it could to clarify the case, if so far without success.

Américo Sebastião was abducted on the morning of July 29, 2016, from a gas station in Nhamapadza, Maringué district, Sofala province, central Mozambique, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Portugal has repeatedly offered judicial cooperation to try to locate the businessman Américo Sebastião, but the Mozambican authorities have never accepted the offer.

Earlier this year, the Mozambican Attorney General’s Office ordered the case to be sent to the central PGR office, it having been filed at the beginning of 2018 by the Sofala Provincial Attorney General’s Office in central Mozambique, allegedly for lack of evidence.

In efforts to locate him, Américo Sebastião’s wife has been in contact with the Mozambican authorities, including the Attorney General of Mozambique, Beatriz Buchili.

Costa offers “all the support” of the Portuguese State

Portuguese prime minister António Costa said that “Mozambique and the family continue to have the full support of the Portuguese state” in their efforts to clarify the case.

“We would all wish it had not happened; we would all wish that, it having happened, it would by now have been clarified. It is not unique, neither in the world, nor in Mozambique. It is not the first time situations like these have come about,” Costa said.

The head of the Portuguese government added that there were “several unsolved disappearance cases” in Portugal, too.

“This does not justify anything. It simply means that we cannot and should not let this unfortunate circumstance disturb the relationship between the two countries. On the contrary, we must work together in good faith and in a constructive way for its clarification,” Costa said.

Américo Sebastião’s whereabouts since the kidnapping remain shrouded in mystery. The crime was carried out by uniformed men who handcuffed the businessman and put him in one of two nondescript vehicles in which they left the fuel station, according to eye witnesses.

According to the family, the kidnappers used the victim’s debit and credit cards to withdraw EUR 4,000, but were not able to withdraw any more after accounts were blocked when Sebastião’s disappearance was verified.

In addition to her petitions to Mozambique’s Assembly of Deputies, Salomé Sebastião wrote to the Mozambican president as part of her efforts to find her husband, but received no response.

Source: Lusa