MOZAMBIQUE 107
Zambeze flood
Aid vultures circle, but
Mozambique says situation under
control, so no international appeal
Cardoso verdicts confirmed
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News reports & clippings no. 107
from Joseph Hanlon (j.hanlon@open.ac.uk)
16 February 2007
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This is an irregular service of news summaries by Joseph Hanlon, this time with 3 attached files of
BBC, Noticias (with photos) and other articles for those who want more detail.
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My Mozambique website: http://www.open.ac.uk/technology/mozambique
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ZAMBEZE FLOOD
85,000 DISPLACED BUT
SITUATION UNDER CONTROL
More than 85,000 people have been displaced by the Zambeze River flood; 36,000 are in
accommodation centres and the rest with friends and relatives. River levels have reached a
temporary peak, as water released from the Cahora Bassa dam last weekend has now arrived
downstream. Since then, discharges from the dam have been reduced somewhat.
The Zambeze floods every few years, and this flood seems not that unusual. Many roads running
parallel to the river are cut by flooding, but the ferry across the river at Caia continues to operate.
Contrary to early reports, some work on the new bridge also continues.
Paulo Zucula, the highly respected new director of the Natural Disasters Institute (INGC, Instituto
Nacional de Gestao das Calamidades) is now based in Caia and was interviewed yesterday by the
BBC (attached).
He told the BBC ‘at present the situation is under control’ and there will be no international appeal
for help. The government has logistic capacity and food had been pre-positioned at Caia before the
floods.
AID VULTURES CIRCLE,
EXAGGERATING THE FLOOD
Meanwhile, the press and aid agencies have been exaggerating the crisis. The BBC headlined a
story Wednesday ‘Mozambique seeks urgent flood aid’ when, as Zucula said yesterday, there will
be no international appeal. The article went on to say that ‘rescue workers fear [that the] Cahora
Bassa [dam] threatens to overflow.’ That is total nonsense. Indeed, the dam management at the
weekend actually reduced the amount of water being released. The dam has never overflowed,
even in the serious flood of 2001.
Many NGOs have sent teams to Mozambique to evaluate the crisis, which they hope to use for
fund-raising, and they have been falsely predicting that Zucula would launch an appeal. For the
INGC, the problem may now be dealing with disaster tourists.
In Portugal, NGOs have been collecting goods for flood victims, only to realise that it will cost more
to ship than they are worth.
BUT SOME HELP IS NEEDED
Although Zucula stresses that the INGC has events under control and that no mass appeal will be
launched, in a press briefing yesterday he said ‘international help and internal solidarity is
welcome, particularly the logistic component, tents, and ways to distribute drinking water.’ In
general, these items are available in Mozambique and neighbouring states, so the main shortage
is money to buy them. But, with the agreement of the INGC, the World Food Programme is
distributing some food and Oxfam is flying in a water and sanitation team. At least two other
international NGOs are also active in the area.
After the 2000 floods, the British Disasters Emergency Committee gave high praise to Oxfam for its
emergency water and sanitation support. But it was also quite critical of the way Oxfam flew in too
many expatriates which meant that ‘some of Oxfam’s emergency actions were taken without an
awareness of the specific Mozambican context’.
LOOKING AHEAD
Zucula stresses that the rainy season has another month to run. If there are more heavy rains, the
floods could get worse. For the moment, however, the situation is under control.
And there is the unexpected. The floods have displaced many crocodiles, and there are becoming
a serious hazard in some places, according to Noticias.
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CARDOSO MURDER
VERDICT CONFIRMED
A Supreme Court panel this week rejected the appeals of the men convicted for killing journalist
Carlos Cardoso. Both the convictions and sentences were upheld. Meanwhile, Noticias reports that
Anibalzinho, the head of the assassination team, is to be moved from his special cell in the national
police headquarters to the ‘maximum security prison’, from which he was twice allowed to escape.
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