Hosia Mviringi
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in the Mozambican capital Maputo, for a one day working visit to the coastal Southern African country.
The President travelled at the invitation of the Mozambican President Mr Filipe Nyusi for bilateral discussions which are expected to centre on the security situation in the country’s Cabo Delgado region and the humanitarian situation mostly for the victims of Cyclone Idai and those displaced and harassed by the terrorist activities in affected areas.
Speaking to this publication yesterday, Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for Presidential Communications, Mr George Charamba described the visit as a bilateral meeting between two sister nations.
“It is a bilateral meeting of sister Republics aimed at deepening collaboration particularly in the context of peace and stability, both in that country and the region.
The security situation in that country will be discussed and how peace can be consolidated, not only for the good of that country but for the region as a whole,” said Mr Charamba.
President Mnangagwa is expected to launch Zimbabwe’s Humanitarian Aid program dubbed ZimRelief which will put Zimbabwe among other philanthropic nations and enable the country to rise up in moments of need to offer humanitarian assistance to those in need.
In addition to Zimbabwe helping with training and capacitation of the Mozambican Defence Forces, President Mnangagwa is today expected to hand over an aid package that comprises mostly food relief to victims of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique.
“Apart from reviewing the political and security situation in the SADC Region, the Zimbabwean leader is set to deliver humanitarian support to the sister Republic of Mozambique which repeatedly has been visited by Cyclonic disasters.
Zimbabwe leads in the call to ensure both national and regional food security so that SADC uses its own stocks to meet deficits,” the Presidential Communications Department wrote on Twitter.
The visit comes hot on the heels of a visit to Harare by Ms. Olivia Machel, daughter to Mozambique’s first President Samora Machel.
Ms Machel was leading a business delegation from Mozambique which met President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare with a proposal for a US$7.8 billion Port at the mouth of the Limpopo river.
“I came for economic development, to tell the President on the project we are developing. We spoke a lot about SADC where Mozambique is responsible for Transport and Energy. The region is in demand of transport and energy due to the mineral resources available.
We came here to present this dream of Samora Machel about a channel to serve the hinterland and to serve countries that helped us get our independence, this will become one of the biggest ports in the region.
“President Mnangagwa is aware of this project. The integration of SADC is now through the economy because politics has already been designed by founding fathers. We are trying to implement the vision of those founders through the economic liberation of the region,” said Machel after meeting the President.
SADC has been in Mozambique through its armed intervention force, the SADC Mission In Mozambique (SAMIM) to help the Southern African country deal decisively with a menacing terrorist insurgency which has terrorised citizens and forced closure of businesses in the affected regions, inflicting a dent to the national and regional economies.
Insecurity in Mozambique has the net effect of discouraging investment and tourism in the whole SADC region.
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