Maputo, 8 Apr (AIM) – The death toll in the collapse of an illegal gold mine in the Vanduzi district, in the central province of Manica, rose from nine to 11.

The tragedy occurred on Sunday in a notorious region of Minas Gerais known as “Seis Carros”.

The mining region of “Seis Carros” became one of the biggest centers of attraction for gold prospectors in Manica. It is estimated that more than ten thousand people, including Mozambicans and foreigners, look for gold there, despite the risks.

In addition to mining, several commercial activities are carried out on site, mostly carried out by young people, creating a parallel economy that has been growing outside the control of the authorities.

According to the police spokesman in Manica, Mouzinho Manasse, other victims continue to be treated in hospital.

“Ten people were buried and died on the spot, in addition to five injured. Of these, three were in serious condition and were transferred to the Chimoio Provincial Hospital. Upon arrival there, one died,” he said.

Manasseh added that health authorities say the hospitalized victims are in stable condition.

The disaster at the “Seis Carros” mine is not an isolated case. Manica has a history of accidents in artisanal mines, many of them associated with landslides during the rainy season.

Mozambican authorities have expressed concern about growing cases of illegal mining, which experts believe is one of the sources of financing for Islamic terrorists operating in parts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

According to the National Directorate of Geology and Mining, the country loses revenue of around 90 million meticais (1.4 million dollars) per year due to illegal mining.
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Maputo, 7 April (AIM) – Mozambican President, Daniel Chapo, launched on Tuesday a Fund for the Empowerment of Women, known as Empodera.

Marking Mozambican Women’s Day, celebrated every year on April 7th, Chapo stated “Empodera is an initiative that responds to one of the commitments made by our country: to promote women’s economic autonomy, expand their access to opportunities, support women’s productive initiatives, and create conditions for more women to move from a situation of vulnerability to prosperity, with dignity and hope”.

He added that the Empodera program also enshrines the commitment to combat domestic violence, gender-based violence and the murder of women.

“Our goal is clear,” Chapo said. “We want women to be economically empowered and socially protected. We want girls with guaranteed rights and we want a society that does not accept violence as a destiny or silence as an answer.”

“We are committed to better conditions so that every woman and every girl can live with safety, dignity and hope”, declared the President.

Promoting the rights of women and girls “must be understood as a condition for peace, national unity, reconciliation, poverty reduction and the construction of a fairer and more developed Mozambique,” ​​Chapo added.

He recalled that the country’s first President, Samora Machel, once declared that “the emancipation of women is not an act of charity: it is a necessity of the revolution, a guarantee of its continuity and the condition of its triumph”.

Chapo said he was certain that “there will be no sustainable development, no lasting peace, no shared prosperity as long as barriers that prevent women from fully exercising their rights persist.”

“We want a society in which men and women realize their potential and participate in equal dignity and opportunities”, he declared. “For us, the promotion of Mozambican women is a matter of justice, democracy, development and the future of the nation”.

Chapo noted that great advances have already been made in empowering women: thus, there is almost parity between the sexes in Mozambican secondary education (49.9 percent of secondary school students are girls) and, in 2025, 97 percent of all registered births will occur in health facilities.

“No society will be truly free until its women are fully respected,” said Chapo. “No economy will be genuinely inclusive as long as its women do not have equal access to opportunities. And no democracy will be truly solid as long as silences imposed by fear, dependence or discrimination persist.”
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Maputo, 7 Apr (AIM) – Genuína Nangundo, administrator of the Montepuez district, Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, accused foreign citizens of recruiting young people to create instability and facilitate illegal gold mining.

According to the administrator, quoted by Rádio Moçambique, these young people are being recruited at the administrative post in Nairoto.

She alleged that the foreign nationals in question also resort to misinformation about how cholera spreads to incite disorder in communities. She did not specify the nationality of the alleged foreigners.

According to Nangundo, at least two individuals, considered ringleaders, were arrested following acts of vandalism that culminated in the destruction of the headquarters and residence of the head of the town of Macololo a few days ago.

“Foreigners give young people money, recruit them to work in the mines. They end up acting like bosses, while our young people enter the mines, extract the gold and hand it over to them,” he said. No evidence was offered for these claims.

Nangundo added that the spread of misinformation about cholera was used as a pretext to destabilize local governance.

“A strange environment was created. There was misinformation about cholera as a strategy to disorganize the local government and allow them to continue their illegal activities,” she said.

Due to insecurity, the head of the Nairoto administrative post and the head of the Macololo locality temporarily left their areas of jurisdiction for fear that their lives were in danger.

The administrator appealed to young people not to be manipulated by financial promises, warning that such practices put sovereignty and territorial integrity at risk. “Young people must be vigilant. They cannot compromise the future of their homeland for immediate gains,” he added.
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Nampula (Mozambique), 7 April (AIM) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo announced that the government may introduce measures at the beginning of May to guarantee the stability of fuel supplies and protect domestic consumption, in order to respond to the fuel crisis resulting from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the US-Israel war of aggression against Iran.

The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, is the transport route for around 20% of the oil traded worldwide and a significant part of the liquefied natural gas transported by sea. However, the waterway is under Iranian control and the Iranians are not allowing most ships to pass through. Mozambique also imports fertilizers through the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the President, speaking on Monday in the city of Nampula, in the north of the country, at a ceremony in which he delivered more than 100 public transport buses to 15 municipalities, “we are waiting for the war to end as quickly as possible so that fuel prices stabilize. But, if it doesn’t end, there will come a time when fuels will start to reach new prices, and this could lead us to take measures, as happened during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

“When that moment comes, we will take measures. One of these actions is what we are anticipating with the introduction of these buses. Being public transport, even if the price increases, the State will have to subsidize it so that people continue to pay the same price”, he said.

The President explained that Mozambique still has fuel reserves acquired before the start of the US-Israel attack against Iran, which will allow it to keep prices stable until the end of April or beginning of May.

“We have fuel in the ports of Maputo, Beira and Nacala, purchased before the war. Furthermore, there were already ships on their way to the country with fuel purchased at the old prices,” he said.

Chapo also condemned false reports about alleged fuel shortages. “There are those who agitate our people, saying that tomorrow there will be no more fuel, creating a race for pumps. This is misinformation. The true information is what the government transmits regularly”, he stated.

The 100 new buses will be distributed across 15 municipalities in the Center and North regions of the country, representing an investment of more than 490 million meticais (around US$7.6 million at current exchange rates).

Chapo said that this measure “is not just an administrative act, but a specific step towards bringing Mozambicans closer to opportunities and improving the living conditions of our people”, he said.

According to the President, the introduction of new buses will reduce waiting times at stops, increase transport capacity and improve safety levels in the beneficiary cities.

It is estimated that the buses benefit approximately 780 thousand passengers per month, equivalent to more than nine million trips per year.

Chapo also highlighted that many of the vehicles are powered by compressed natural gas, a solution that combines economic efficiency and environmental responsibility, aligning the country with global energy transition trends.

The initiative is part of a broader program that foresees the acquisition of 1,145 buses to strengthen urban and rural mobility across the country.

“The good management of these resources is a duty of the people we represent,” said Chapo. He urged his audience to “drive with respect and a sense of mission, because these buses transport citizens who trust in the safety of the public service”.

The buses, he added, are a concrete step in building a more integrated, more productive country concerned with the well-being of its people.
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Maputo, 6 April (AIM) – Climate change is no longer a distant threat, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo warned on Monday.

Speaking in the flood-hit Guijá district of southern Gaza province, Chapo said climate change “is a reality that worsens the vulnerability of our production system and our rural communities.”

Much of Mozambique, especially the southern provinces, faced devastating floods in January and again in March. The floods, Chapo said, “compromised harvests, affected livestock and fishing, and endangered the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of families.”

But, “although we know well the strength of flood waters, we know even better the strength of our people – a people who never give up, who always get up and transform adversity into determination”.

Chapo insisted that the solution involves increasing agricultural production, although he recognizes that the 2025/2026 agricultural season “is one of the most demanding seasons in recent years. Torrential rains and strong floods have tested our productive capacity and the resilience of our communities”.

“The data is clear and demands responsibility and firm action from us,” he continued. “Around 441 thousand hectares of crops were affected with a direct impact on strategic crops such as corn and rice”,

The loss of pastures affected more than 428,000 head of cattle and there were significant losses of boats and fishing equipment. “The productive base of 335 thousand families has been weakened,” said Chapo.

“It is not enough to respond to the emergency”, declared the President. “It is imperative that we transform the way we produce and prepare for the future. We must continue to invest in climate-adapted agricultural technologies, expand the rehabilitation of irrigation systems, manage our natural resources sustainably and build resilient infrastructure.”

“Our response as a State must rise to the challenge and that is why I am here,” said Chapo.

The government was far from indifferent to natural disasters, Chapo stressed. “We acted, mobilized resources and coordinated efforts, not only to guarantee immediate assistance, but above all to restore the productive capacity of our people,” said Chapo. “Our objective is not to return to the starting point, but to advance to a new level of production, resilience and food security.”

At the Guijá ceremony, Chapo announced the delivery of 161,000 agricultural kits to small producers, 359 fishing boats and several other inputs. They were “opportunities to start a new stage. The waters are receding, there is mud everywhere and the conditions are favorable to sow seeds and start producing.”
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Maputo, 6 Apr (AIM) – The National Petroleum Institute (INP) of Mozambique is strengthening its technical capacity for upstream supervision as part of a new cycle of cooperation with the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD).

The project aims to raise regulatory standards and align the national oil sector with international requirements.

According to a document, available on the INP website, institutional strengthening results from a series of recent technical meetings between INP and NOD, as part of the implementation of the bilateral Energy for Development (EfD) program, launched in 2023.

The central objective is to establish a results-oriented roadmap, consolidating regulatory excellence and responding to global challenges in upstream sector supervision.

Cooperation between Mozambique and Norway in the energy sector, which spans more than five decades, has played a fundamental role in strengthening institutions, increasing technical capacity and promoting good governance practices throughout the extractive sector’s entire value chain.

The transition from the previous Oil for Development (OfD) program to Energy for Development (EfD) marks an adaptation to a new global context, characterized by increasing demands for sustainability, decarbonization and integration of renewable energies.

The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) describes itself as a government agency responsible for the management and regulation of petroleum and offshore resources on the Norwegian continental shelf, ensuring the optimal use of resources with minimal environmental impact.
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Maputo, 6 Apr (AIM) – The Confederation of Business Associations of Mozambique (CTA) called on the government to pay its internal debt, after having paid in full, last March, its outstanding debt of 515.04 million Special Drawing Rights (equivalent to 630.1 million US dollars) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to the “Total movement of outstanding credit from the IMF (from March 1, 2026 to March 31, 2026)”, Mozambique is the only country in this situation among 85 countries listed.

In a statement, the CTA called on the government to pay attention to its large domestic debts.

“CTA is fully available to continue working closely with the government and other national and international partners in identifying and implementing solutions that promote sustainable and inclusive economic development. However, the government must pay its internal debts, especially those with private entities”, reads the CTA note.

The organization believes that, in the current context of extreme poverty, the country must reinforce the importance of deepening ongoing reforms, focusing on boosting the real economy and creating sustainable opportunities for citizens.

“The challenge is to ensure that this effort is complemented by policies that stimulate national production, private investment and the competitiveness of the economy”, the document reads.

The CTA also called on the government to consolidate a growth agenda based on trust, predictability and cooperation between different economic actors.

“Mozambique has significant economic potential, the realization of which depends on the collective capacity to align policies, mobilize investments and strengthen the role of the private sector as an engine of growth and job creation”, states the organization.

The CTA also encouraged the continuation of efforts aimed at strengthening the business environment, with greater stability and regulatory predictability; facilitate access to financing and foreign exchange for the productive sector; and implement balanced tax policies that encourage investment.

“CTA defends the promotion of national production and exports; investment in infrastructure and human capital; and the strengthening of public-private dialogue as a pillar of the formulation of effective policies”, the note reads.
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Maputo, April 5 (AIM) – The regions affected by the “El Niño” climate phenomenon, in the province of Gaza, southern Mozambique, recorded unprecedented levels of precipitation during the current rainy season.

“El Niño” is a climate phenomenon that arises from the anomalous warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that often disrupts precipitation patterns, leading to periods of drought in Southern Africa.

Data from the National Institute of Meteorology of Mozambique (INAM) show that districts in northern Gaza, historically affected by the El Niño phenomenon and generally arid or semi-arid, received in just one week the equivalent of the precipitation of an entire rainy season.

The current rainy season, which runs from October to April, has reversed a prolonged cycle of severe drought that lasted almost a decade.

According to climatologist Isaías Raiva, the districts of Massangena, Mabalane, Chicualacuala, Massingir and Mapai recorded between 400 and 500 millimeters of rain in just seven days. These volumes correspond to the accumulated average of the entire rainy season in these parts of Gaza, during normal years.

“We are talking about very large and extreme rainfall, never before recorded at this level in the semi-arid areas of Gaza,” he said.

The scenario contrasts sharply with the reality since 2016, a period marked by a sharp drop in rainfall in the north of the province. INAM data, based on analyzes of historical series, indicate a trend of progressive reduction in precipitation, aggravated by recurrent episodes of El Niño, responsible for prolonged droughts.

In recent years, accumulated precipitation has been below average, with long periods of no precipitation recorded during the rainy season. The result was crop losses, animal deaths and increased social vulnerability.

Now, exceptional rains may be a relief. Soil recovery, replenishment of water reserves and regeneration of pastures could boost agricultural production and livestock farming, the basis of the local economy.

Even so, the phenomenon raises concerns. The intensity of the rains is already causing flooding, soil erosion and damage to infrastructure, especially in areas poorly prepared for extreme events.

Given this new climate pattern, Rabies calls for mitigation and adaptation actions. “We have to prepare communities to live with these changes, because the climate will not return to normal immediately,” he said.

The 2025 State Climate Report highlights changes not only in precipitation, but also in other indicators such as sea surface temperature and sea level.

Severe flooding hit Gaza in January and again in March, and forced the temporary closure of around 240 businesses.

According to the country’s Confederation of Business Associations (CTA), cited by the independent newspaper “O País”, the situation impacted more than 3,000 workers.

“This number could further increase, as the assessment of the damage in the affected districts continues. Of the total number of workers affected, around 24 percent have permanent contracts, while the remainder are seasonal”, says the CTA.

However, the full extent of losses is still difficult to calculate, as many agricultural areas remain submerged.

According to data updated on March 31 by the relief agency, National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD), the current rainy season has already caused 309 deaths and affected around 1.06 million people across the country since October.
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Chimoio (Mozambique), 6 April (AIM) – At least nine people died and three others were injured in the collapse of an illegal gold mine in the district of Vanduzi, central province of Manica.

The tragedy occurred on Sunday in a notorious region of Minas Gerais known as “Seis Carros”.

Speaking to journalists, the governor of Manica province, Francisca Tomás, confirmed the tragedy.

“I confirm the death of nine people. Three others were injured,” he said. “Seven people died on the spot and five others were injured. Of the five injured, four were taken to hospital, of which two lost their lives.”

The governor called for sustainable and safe mining to avoid accidents that result in the loss of human lives.

“Tragedies of this nature have been recurring, especially during the rainy season, when the ground is unstable and subject to landslides. We have mobilized artisanal miners to take all precautions to avoid deaths,” he stated.

The “Seis Carros” mining region became one of the biggest attraction centers for gold prospectors in Manica. It is estimated that more than ten thousand people, including Mozambicans and foreigners, look for gold there, despite the risks.

Men and women of various ages flock to the site daily, including, in some cases, public servants who temporarily abandon their jobs in search of quick income through mining.

In addition to mining, several commercial activities are carried out on site, mostly carried out by young people, creating a parallel economy that has been growing outside the control of the authorities.

The disaster at the “Seis Carros” mine is not an isolated case. Manica has a history of accidents in artisanal mines, many of them associated with landslides during the rainy season.
(AIM)
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