Vale suspends coal trains on Sena line after attack in central Mozambique

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Vale suspends coal trains on Sena line after attack in central Mozambique

10:40 CAT | 28 Jul 2016

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Brazilian mining company Vale has temporarily suspended coal trains on the Sena line after an armed attack on Monday on a train in the Inhamitanga section, central Mozambique, the company announced yesterday.

“The company has talked to the relevant authorities and suspended activities on the Sena line,” Vale said in response to the latest, which local authorities attributed the armed members of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo).

The train was hit by gunfire at about 9:45 a.m. on Monday while travelling in the Moatize-Beira direction but continued on its journey to Becanta railway station, six kilometres further on, after the ambush

According to Vale, there were three employees on the train at the time of the attack: the driver, his assistant and a guard from a private security company.

“The driver contracted gunshot wounds to his back and the security guards cuts to the wrist from flying glass,” the statement said. The injured men were assisted immediately and discharged.

The statement does not mention any deadline for the resumption of operations in the Sena line, but the Brazilian ambassador in Maputo said yesterday that he was following this incident carefully.

“We are aware of the situation and evaluating whether or not operations in the Sena corridor should continue or not at this point,” Rodrigo Baena Soares told Lusa, adding that he hoped further such attacks “could be avoided”.

Soares said he had “confidence in Mozambican institutions finding a safe way through”, and noted particularly that the attack occurred on the Sena line in Sofala province, and not in the Nacala corridor between Tete and Nampula, where Vale has developed a new railway line to transport coal from its Moatize concession.

Baena Soares said that despite the attacks on Vale trains, Brazilian investment in Mozambique would “definitely continue”.

Brazilian interests in Mozambique are “very comprehensive and involve investments of billions of dollars in the region” across areas such as mining and quarrying, construction, beverages, communications and agriculture, he said, pointing out that Mozambique is Brazil’s biggest international cooperation partner.

“We follow political and military events in Mozambique closely, and of course the operations of Vale, which is the main Brazilian investment here,” he said.

The administrator of Cheringoma district in Sofala province attributed the attack on the Vale train to armed Renamo men on Monday and classified the incident as an “economic sabotage”.

The attack came nearly a month after the mining company had resumed the movement of trains in the Moatize-Beira line following a two-week suspension because of the security situation, during which time military positions were strengthened.

Mozambique has seen a worsening of the clashes between the Defense and Security Forces and the armed wing of Renamo, the main opposition party, with mutual accusations of abductions and assassinations of militants on both sides.

The Mozambican authorities have set up mandatory military escorts in three sections in two of the main roads in the centre of the country, but despite this, the ambush on vehicles, including civilians, attributed to Renamo’s armed wing continue.

The main opposition party refuses to accept the results of the 2014 general elections, threatening to rule in the six provinces where it claims victory in the poll.

Delegations of the Mozambican government and Renamo returned to meet this month in Maputo for peace talks in the presence of international mediators called by the parties.

Source: Lusa