Jasmine Opperman and Joseph Hanlon are adamant that on this matter one should not believe everything one reads.

Since what one reads comes from areas that have been rendered hors de contact by jihadis destroying the mobile phone masts, then incredulity makes good sense.

What we can do now is work out where we are and how we got here.

We know that at least 2 500 people have died and more than 7 000 have been displaced in Cabo Delgado since the start of 2020.

It is self evident that corruption in Mozambique has hamstrung government’s capacity to do anything to control it, let alone stop it.

I tend to believe the Catholic Church on Mozambique.

The Church of Rome has an impressive record on the former Portuguese colony..

St Edigio, the Vatican’s ministry of foreign affairs, mediated an end to Mozambique’s 15-year civil war in which both sides fought themselves to exhaustion and by its end in 1992 had dragged the country to very bottom of the list of world’s poorest countries.

So the Catholic Bishops’ conference can draw on past form when it in explains that the insurrection in Cabo Delgado is caused by people seizing control of the country and its resources and exploiting these at the cost of its development.

The bishops, in their statement this week call for the creation of jobs, particularly for the youth, as a way of emerging from the morass of violence being fed by the desperation and marginalization of the province’s people.

Easier said than done? That is ever the case in situations where the government is forced to rely on the assistance of neighbors and other friends further afield.

President Felipe Nyusi has been too proud to accept this help.

He feels it betrays the weakness and venality in his government.

He would do well to accept the United States, Portugal and the European Union training his military to counter the jihadis.

While he does this, he should not delay in taking the socio economic steps suggested by the bishops.

The post Take the advice of the Mozambique Catholic Bishops appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Last week’s run off was peaceful and orderly.

Will it bring stability to the former Portuguese colony that’s suffered a series of assassinations and  coups.

Umaro Cissoko Embalo won the run-off election.

His opponent Domingo Simoes Pereira will contest the result.

Both are former Prime Ministers.

Guinea Bissau is trying to cast aside its reputation as a coup-prone narco state, used as transit point for South American cocaine headed for Europe.

Outgoing President Jose Mario Vaz made tearful appeal for stability.

He congratulated the military for staying out of the election and called for a new page to be written on the country’s democratic history

He came to power in 2014, two years after a coup. The electorate punished him for his administration characterized by frequent sacking.

The post Guinea Bissau has a new president appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Final results are expected Wednesday.

The run-off will determine the successor to President Jose Mario Vaz who was eliminated in the first round after series of high level sackings and a barely functioning parliament.

Frontrunner is Domingos Simoes Pereira who won 40% of the first round votes.

He has been endorsed by the major contenders who fell out in the tumultuous contest on November 24.

Both he and the other run-off contestant, Umaro Cissoko Embalo, are former prime ministers. 

Their campaigns promised stability in the country of 1,6 million that has endured nine attempted coups since independence in 1974.

The post Vote counting after Guinea Bissau’s run-off Presidential election appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Maltese naval vessels ferried the refugees ashore because the German-flagged vessel was not allowed into Valetta harbor

The migrants will be moved to Germany, France, Portugal and Luxembourg who agreed to take them in. They’ve come from Libya, where fighting around the capital Tunis has prevented naval operations curbing refugee boats starting the perilous crossing to Europe. So far this year, 356 migrants have drowned or gone missing on the Mediterranean.

Malta and Italy have barred rescue ships from their harbours.

The 67 aboard the Alan Kurdi, named after a three-year-old Syrian son of migrants who drowned in 2015, were in desperate straits on the overcrowded the vessel.

Two had already been evacuated because of  medical emergencies. 

The post Four EU members agree to take in 67 migrants adrift for a fortnight appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

For this to happen though, President José Mário Vaz much break the deadlock between government, parliament and the executive.

Not a single head of state has managed to see out a full term since the country became independent of Portugal in1974.

Guinea Bissau has seen three coups, a civil war and the assassination of a president and army chief.

South America drug cartels took advantage of the instability to use the country as a transit point for smuggling cocaine into Europe.

Islamist militants in the region tapped into the drug money to finance their operations.

The post New hope for Guinea Bissau after peaceful elections appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Mozambique’s new president Felipe Nyusi’s pledged to open constructive dialogue with all political forces and civil society organisations to promote peace in his country ravaged by civil war

His inauguration was boycotted by the former rebel group Renamo that refused to acknowledge his victory in elections two months ago

Felipe Nyusi is Mozambique’s former defence minister and the country’s first president not to have fought in the liberation war against Portugal.

An engineer by profession he holds no top position in Frelimo that’s ruled the country since 1974.

Nyusi took 57% of the vote in the election compared with the 37% won by Renamo leader Afonso Dlakama.

He says he represents a new generation that inherits huge success and exciting challenges.

Nyusi hits the ground running with vast tracts of the country submerged by heavy flooding and the South African military helping in rescue operations.

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