Mozambique: Food Insecurity Affecting Over 300,000

Food

Maputo — Over 300,000 people are affected by food insecurity as a result of the drought in southern and central Mozambique, the government spokesperson, Deputy Health Minister Mouzinho Saide, announced in Maputo.

Adding up the figures provided by local authorities, the exact number of people affected by drought and food insecurity is 315,366 said Saide, speaking to reporters at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet).

While the southern and central provinces are dealing with the consequences of drought, northern Mozambique faces the opposite problem. Saide said that floods in the north have affected 32,243 people, and have destroyed 4,991 houses and 109 schools.

A national campaign of solidarity with the victims of these natural disasters had so far led to the collection of 27 tonnes of foodstuffs, 444 shelter kits, and 780,000 meticais (15,600 US dollars, at current exchange rates) in cash.

The drought means that Mozambique is facing a serious grain shortage. The country has always had to import most of the wheat it consumes, as well as much of the rice, but it has at least been self-sufficient in maize. This is no longer the case: Saide put this year's grain deficit at 149,000 tonnes of maize, 267,000 tonnes of rice and 328,000 tonnes of wheat.

Saide said that during the meeting President Filipe Nyusi had reiterated his willingness to hold a face-to-face meeting with Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the rebel movement Renamo, in order to seek a solution leading to an effective peace.

The government, continued Saide, restated “its commitment to peace and reconciliation among all Mozambicans”, and remained open to dialogue with Renamo, based on the democratic rule of law and social justice.

But despite the government's openness, “Renamo is not responding to the invitation to dialogue”, he said.

Referring to the ambushes staged on major roads in the central provinces, Saide added that Renamo “is continuing to undertake criminal acts of destabilization in certain parts of the country, killing and terrorizing people and destroying property”.

Renamo was thus “contradicting a fundamental value expressed in the Constitution, namely the right to life, as well as the Mozambican agenda for development”.

The Council of Ministers, he added, has again urged all those in illegal possession of firearms to hand them over to the authorities.