MOZAMBIQUE 123
MAPUTO DEMONSTRATORS
WIN FARE CUT
ZAMBEZE FLOOD
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News reports & clippings no. 123 from Joseph Hanlon
06 February 2008 ()
This is an irregular service of news summaries, mainly based on recent AIM and Noticias reports.
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Daily flood reports from the National Water Directorate (DNA, Direcçao Nacional de Aguas) have not been available since Friday.
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WIDESPREAD DEMONSTRATIONS
WIN REVERSAL
OF MAPUTO FARE RISE
Widespread and unprecedented demonstrations largely closed Maputo Tuesday and were continuing into the evening.
The demonstrators were protesting against a 50% rise in minibus (chapa) fares, from 5 meticais to 7.5 – 20 US cents to 30 US cents. But with an official minimum wage of less than $2 per day -- and many paid less than that – plus statistics showing growing poverty in Maputo, the increase clearly hit many poor people hard.
Late Tuesday evening Transport Minister Antonio Mungwambe said the government and mini-bus operators had agreed to cancel the fare increase.
Monday was a holiday and the new fares were supposed to take effect Tuesday. Instead, from 6.30 am Tuesday, gangs of 10 to 20 young people, in contact with each other by mobile phone, blocked streets with tree trunks, cement blocks, building rubble or burning tyres. Main streets were blocked and demonstrators closed key points, such as the toll booths on the main road between Maputo and Matola. Cars that tried to pass the barricades were attacked; in some places cars were trapped and not allowed to move all day. By mid-morning all bus and mini-bus service had been halted and there was little traffic on the streets.
Some shops were also attacked. Demonstrators attacked a school, apparently because it was named after President Armando Guebuza, smashing every window .
Riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas in attempts to disperse the rioters. STV reported the police were using live ammunition and that one person had been shot and killed.
Such widespread and coordinated demonstrations are quite unprecedented in Maputo – as was the rapid retreat of government and bus owners.
FLOODS CONTINUE
Floodwaters remain high on the Zambeze river, and have risen in recent days at downstream areas of Caia and Marromeu where they reached their highest level this year. Dykes at Marromeu continue to hold and the water is still 50 cm below the top.. Roads into district capitals of Mutarara, Magoe and Marromeu have been cut, isolating those towns. Two cargo helicopters hired from Ukrainian company both failed on the first day, so transport is now only by boat along the river, and there are increasing fuel shortages.
No increase in flooding is predicted for the next few days, but the Zambezi River Authority announced on Tuesday that it would start dumping water from the Kariba dam on 11 February. The water will take about five days to reach Tete and nine days to reach Marromeu. It is expected that the Kafue river dam in Zambia will also have to dump water.
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