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It has been another sadly active week in the conflict in the north of Mozambique, which of late has spilled over from Cabo Delgado into Niassa. On Monday insurgents hit the Niassa village of Macalange, initially taking some villagers hostage but eventually releasing them, apparently in return for food.

The lack of violence contrasted with that meted out by insurgents at the Kambako hunting lodge and the conservation centre at Mariri. Those two projects along with two more in the eastern part of Niassa Special Reserve warned this week that if they are not better protected, thousands of human livelihoods as well as endangered species will be at risk.

Nor were the insurgents restricted to the Niassa-Cabo Delgado borders. In Muidumbe, central Cabo Delgado, they carried out what looks like the most deadly attack on the Mozambican military in over a year; and off the coast of Mocímboa da Praia, insurgents on motorboats fired on a Russian observation vessel, in a quite unprecedented action in this conflict.

That ship has now sailed back to Maputo, according to the latest reports.

Zitamar’s coverage of the conflict in Cabo Delgado is now back behind the paywall, since USAID funding for the Cabo Ligado conflict observatory abruptly ended in January under the new US administration. The change has left a big hole in Zitamar’s budget for this year — along with many other organisations, to be sure.

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Read on for today’s main headlines, followed by excerpts from this week’s other Daily Briefings. And have a great weekend.

Agenda:

Today: President Daniel Chapo embarks on a two-day visit to Angola, for meetings with his counterpart João Lourenço. Also travelling in his delegation are foreign minister Maria Lucas, energy and mineral resources minister Estevão Pale, minister of economy Basílio Muhate, transport and logistics minister João Matlombe, and the secretary of state for treasury and budget, Amílcar Tivane

Today’s headlines:

Former Renamo guerrillas occupy party headquarters in Maputo (RFI, Domingo, TV Miramar)
Government says it’s completed requirements to get off finance ‘grey list’ (Lusa, O País, AIM)

Former Renamo guerrillas occupy party headquarters in Maputo (RFI, Domingo, TV Miramar)

A group of former Renamo guerrillas yesterday occupied the party's headquarters in central Maputo, demanding the resignation of party leader Ossufo Momade. The protesters said they came from all over the country. The occupation follows the closure by party rebels of almost all of Renamo’s provincial offices. The occupiers said they would remain in place until their demands are met. The party's spokesman, Marciel Macome, promised to make a statement in due course.

A post on Renamo’s Facebook page, which was quickly deleted, blamed Elias Dhlakama, the brother of former leader Afonso Dhlakama who tried and failed to take over leadership after Afonso’s death, and other former Renamo members of parliament of being behind the occupation.

Government says it’s completed requirements to get off finance ‘grey list’ (Lusa, O País, AIM)

Mozambique has already complied with all 26 indicators needed to get off the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) “grey list” of financial jurisdictions and return to normal, Luís Abel Cezerilo, the man charged with achieving that, said yesterday. The FATF could announce Mozambique’s removal from the list in September, he said, at a FATF meeting to be held in Mozambique. Mozambique was placed on the list on 22 October 2022 for failing to bring in certain measures to combat money laundering and terror financing.

Week in Review

Monday

It may also be argued that the country should not be saving so much anyway. Mozambique is not Norway or Singapore; most of the population lives in poverty and lacks access to basic services, and the overall standard of education is low.

Using most of the gas revenues to reduce poverty and deprivation while setting aside an amount to smooth out peaks and troughs in government revenues, and encourage more sustainable spending, might be more realistic. The aim of stabilisation was there from the start, but so was the aim to save money to spend on “future generations”.

It remains a moral imperative not to use the revenues from finite natural resources only on the current generation. But neither current nor future generations are likely to see any transformative projects delivered as a result.

Tuesday

A Russian survey ship was shot at by Islamic State-backed insurgents off the coast of the Mocímboa da Praia district of Cabo Deglado province on Saturday.

The hydrographic survey vessel, named the Atlantida, was passing several kilometres from Tambuzi island in northern Cabo Delgado when it came under fire from insurgents in two speedboats, Zitamar understands.

No casualties were reported and the ship managed to escape undamaged.

The Atlantida arrived in the port of Maputo on 17 March for a project with the Oceanographic Institute of Mozambique to carry out acoustic and trawling studies.

Wednesday

Much of PEPFAR’s work will be reinstated, under an exemption to US aid cuts that reinstates life-saving interventions. But there are exceptions to the exemption, including that there will be no finance for “family planning” measures. That could mean no more funding for condoms, one of the simplest and most effective tools to combat the spread of HIV.

The issue of the provision of condoms to Mozambique, and to one province in particular, became emblematic of President Trump and his henchman Elon Musk’s ignorance of the reality of US overseas aid, when they decried the amount of money apparently being spent on sending condoms to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. In reality the budget was for the Mozambican provinces of Inhambane and Gaza — not the Gaza strip.

Thursday

The Ministry of Transport yesterday announced reductions in toll charges throughout the country, including on roads managed by state-owned company Revimo, and by the private consortium TRAC. The existence of those companies means that government revenues will probably not take a direct hit; instead the price cuts will be paid for in less maintenance for the roads, and potentially extra concessions to be made to TRAC further down the line.

The VAT exemptions are aimed not only at cutting prices for consumers but also at boosting domestic production, as they are extended to raw materials and equipment along the value chain of the goods covered by the measure. There are serious doubts, however, that either aim will be achieved. Merchants will try to pocket extra profits rather than pass savings on to consumers, and producers have in the past taken the opportunity to import finished goods in bulk designated as raw materials, then repackage them as made in Mozambique.