MOZAMBIQUE/PORTUGAL
In spite of pressure from the Mozambican government, the matter of handing back to Mozambique the majority of the equity of Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB, the firm operating the dam of the same name) was not settled before the presidential election in Portugal last month. The government of Maputo will therefore have to continue negotiating this matter with the new President of Portugal, Anibal Cavaco Silva, who is to take up his functions at the beginning of March. President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique has already informed his Portuguese opposite number that he is concerned about the delays being built up in completing this issue, which should have been closed by December 2005. The Mozambican authorities are all the more disquiet since certain people close to Cavaco Sliva could now find themselves in jobs of advisor and blow hot and cold on this subject. Hence, the Portuguese former Minister of Finance, Manuela Ferreira Leite is in favour of “complete and full settlement of the Mozambican debt” concerning Cahora Bassa. But on the other hand, Ambassador Martins da Cruz, a former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cavaco Silva’s diplomatic advisor for ten years, defends a more flexible and diplomatic approach to this question. The reason is that he has in mind holding a Euro-African summit in Lisbon when Portugal holds the rotating Presidency of the European Union (EU) next year.
Indian Ocean Letter - 25.02.2006
NOTA:
- Afinal para que foi todo aquele "show off"? Estavam com medo de Cavaco Silva? Cavaco Silva não está metido em negócios de "compadres".