News

Mozambican Labour Minister Helena Taipo has ordered that 22 out of the 28 staff of the Maputo Provincial Labour Directorate - including the Director himself - are to lose a day's wages for failing to turn up for work on time.

The South African government has promised to provide helicopters to support Mozambique in the current operations to assist people affected by flooding in the Zambezi Valley.

The Mozambican government signed in Maputo on Wednesday a partnership agreement with the multinational computer company Microsoft.

The German government on Wednesday promised to increase its aid to Mozambique to 92.5 million euros (about 124 million US dollars) for the two year period 2007-08.

Cyclone Favio, sweeping in from the Mozambique Channel, is likely to hit the coast of the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane on Wednesday night.

The Mozambican government is looking into ways of equipping the country's relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), with at least two more helicopters for rescue operations during floods, reports Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

The flood waters of the Zambezi in central Mozambique are gradually subsiding, but on its lower reaches the river remains extremely high.

The Spanish government, through its International Cooperation Agency (AECI) and the local Red Cross has just granted 250,000 Euros (about 330,000 US dollars) plus equipments worth about 200,000 Euros in support of the victims of floods in the Zambezi valley in the western Tete, and the central Sofala, Manica, and Zambezia Mozambican provinces.

Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Diogo said on Friday that the 'red alert' is still on in the Zambezi valley, in the central region of Mozambique, and 'the people's rescue has been completed and the 8,000 cubic metres of discharges per second from the Cahora Bassa dam is over, stopping floods in the districts of Caia, Luabo and Marromeu. It has done what it had to do.

The Disasters Management National Institute (INGC) needs urgently more than 3,000 tents with the capacity to shelter between eight and 12 people each, to be distributed to the 29 accommodation centres for the victims of floods along the Zambezi valley, in the central region of the country.

French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday singled out the crisis in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur as the major political challenge facing Africa.

From the numerical point of view, the 24th Franco-African summit, due to take place at Cannes, on the French Mediterranean coast, on Thursday and Friday, looks set to be a huge success.

The Disasters Management National Institute (INGC) is fearing to run short of food to assist the victims of floods along the Zambezi river who are already accommodated and resettled in the central Manica, Sofala, Tete, and Zambezia provinces, reports Wednesday's issue of the daily paper 'Noticias'.

Mozambique and Norway signed in Oslo on Monday an agreement in terms of which the Norwegian government is to grant 200 million crowns (about 30 million US dollars) to finance the electrification of some districts in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

The poor state of access roads along the Zambezi valley is hindering operations of assistance to about 6,500 people who by Sunday had been rescued to safety.

The Dutch government and the publicly owned Mozambican Ports and Railways company (CFM) are investing 18 million US dollars in two emergency dredging projects for the access channel and the manoeuvering basins in the central port of Beira.

The Mozambican Agriculture Ministry signed in Maputo on Monday a memorandum of understanding with the country's donors to grant funds for the ministry to implement the second phase of the Agriculture Development National Programme (PROAGRI II).

Mozambican Health Minister Ivo Garrido on Friday urged hospital workers to see through the changes under way in the country's hospitals, intended to improve the services provided to the public.

The Mozambican Association of Friendship and Solidarity (AMASP) and the Cuban Institute of Friendship (ICAP) signed a protocol in Maputo on Wednesday to strengthen their cooperation relations.

At every point along its length in central Mozambique, the Zambezi river remains well above flood alert level, and in most cases over a metre above the alert level.