News

Southern Africa's energy shortage was dramatically illustrated on Friday when power supplies were interrupted to aluminium smelters (including the MOZAL smelter on the outskirts of Maputo) and other key industries, because storms knocked out power supplies from the Cahora Bassa dam on the Zambezi.

The new curriculum for basic education is not to blame for the poor performance of pupils in Mozambican schools, according to Joaquim Matavele, the assistant director of the National Institute for the Development of Education, cited in Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

The network of United Nations agencies in Mozambique has expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the Mozambican government in the promotion of good governance and development of the country.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Monday sent a warm message to his predecessor, Joaquim Chissano, congratulating him on the award of the first Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.

Former Mozambican President, Joaquim Chissano, has won the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership.

Mozambique's press freedom ranking, according to the Worldwide Press Freedom Index, published by the Paris-based press freedom body, Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF - Reporters without Borders), has fallen sharply this year.

The Mozambican government signed an agreement in Maputo on Wednesday with the company Ayr Logistica Limitada, under which this company will invest five billion US dollars to build an oil refinery in Nacala-a-Velha, in the northern province of Nampula.

The Japanese government has approved funding of about 83,000 US dollars for a professional education project in Mozambique, to be implemented by the Maputo General Union of Cooperatives (UGC).

The Mozambican chapter of MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) has once again urged the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, to pass a law on freedom of information, guaranteeing access to public sources of information.

From the beginning of 2006 up to the first half of 2007, 203 million dollars was invested in the Mozambican mining sector, according to the National Director of Mines, Fatima Momade, cited in Friday's issue of the independent newsheet "Mediafax".

The publicly owned Mozambican railway company (CFM) has gone from near bankruptcy to become a profitable company, with financial credibility, says the World Bank, one of the main bodies that financed the programme to restructure CFM.

The Mozambican government on Wednesday signed a contract with the London-based Central African Mining and Exploration Company (CAMEC) for a biofuel project involving a factory that will produce 120 million litres of ethanol a year.

The Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), the oldest and largest higher education institution in Mozambique, signed in Maputo on Monday a cooperation protocol with three private forestry companies to plant trees on more than 700,000 hectares of damaged forests.

Mozambique is considering establishing an iron and steel industry, which would involve investment of over a billion US dollars and could be ready by early 2011, reports Monday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

The US ambassador designate to Mozambique has told the US Senate that the relationship between the two countries is excellent.

As from 4 November, Mozambican citizens will no longer need an entry visa to visit Zimbabwe.

The Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture hopes to respond to the growing demand for biofuels, but without sacrificing food production.

The expansion of the banking system in Mozambique is to cover 10 more districts in the central and northern regions of the country as part of a 34.2 million US dollar project funded by the government's Economy Rehabilitation Support Fund (FARE).

The International Trade Centre (ITC), a technical cooperation agency of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has pledged to disburse 130,000 US dollars to improve the production and quality of vegetables sold by cooperatives to hotels and restaurants in Maputo.

Geological data gathered by the American oil company Anadarko in northern Mozambique provide promising signs that there could be large reserves of oil in the Rovuma Basin on the border with Tanzania.