Category Archives: Mozambique

‘You often get sick’: the deadly toll of illegal gold mining in South Africa | Christopher Clark

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Driven by need, tens of thousands of women are risking death, disease and sexual violence to scrape a living in the country’s informal mining sector

On the outskirts of Durban Deep, an abandoned mining town with a labyrinth of underground tunnels long since abandoned by the big gold companies, Elizabeth goes rhythmically about her work.

Grinding piles of rough stones into white, gold-flecked silt on a large concrete slab, the 40-year-old is one of the ghostly dust-covered zama zamas – artisanal miners, mostly illegal – who have turned to scavenging in disused gold and diamond mines across South Africa.

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Why were the people worst affected by Cyclone Idai so badly prepared? | Antonio Matimbe

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While the world’s poorest bear the brunt of ever more powerful storms, international leaders do little to address the devastating impact of climate change

I am a Mozambican aid agency communicator. Cyclone Idai is just the latest humanitarian crisis I have been involved in.

Mozambique has a history of being affected by huge storms. The upsetting thing to me is that while international leaders and experts talk about climate change and the impact this is having on the world, the very poorest are bearing the brunt of ever more powerful storms.

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Survival in Mozambique after cyclone Idai – in pictures

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Millions of survivors face dire conditions after the tropical cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique’s coast, unleashing hurricane-force wind and rain that flooded swathes of the country. More than two million people have been affected in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where the storm killed 60 and displaced nearly a million people. Hundreds are still missing in Mozambique and Zimbabwe

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Mayor in Mozambique says negligence led to cyclone deaths

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People in rural areas were not told about red alert days before Idai struck, says city official

The Mozambican government failed to warn people in the areas worst hit by Cyclone Idai despite a “red alert” being issued two days before it struck, the mayor of the city of Beira has said.

The southern African country was completely unprepared for the disaster and “profound negligence” led to many deaths, said the mayor, Daviz Simango, who is also the leader of an opposition party.

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Cyclone Idai crisis deepens as first cases of cholera confirmed in Mozambique

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Five people test positive for waterborne disease in flooded port city of Beira amid warnings outbreak will spread

The first cases of cholera have been reported in the cyclone-ravaged Mozambican city of Beira, complicating an already massive and complex emergency in the southern African country.

The announcement of five cases of the waterborne disease follows days of mounting fears that cholera and other diseases could break out in the squalid conditions in which tens of thousands have been living since Cyclone Idai struck on 14 March, killing at least 700 people across the region.

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Cyclone Idai death toll passes 750 with more than 110,000 now in camps

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Devastated areas of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi brace for the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera and malaria

Cyclone Idai’s death toll has risen above 750 in the three southern African countries hit 10 days ago by the storm, as workers try to restore electricity and water and prevent an outbreak of cholera.

In Mozambique the number of dead has risen to 446, with 259 dead in Zimbabwe and at least 56 dead in Malawi.

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No food, no shelter, no livelihood: families in Mozambique hit by Cyclone Idai

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Officials ‘overwhelmed’ by the scale of the disaster, leading to a delay in humanitarian and rescue missions

Beneath the crumbling arcade of the municipal council building in Beira, in Mozambique, a group of families has set up a dismal camp. They sleep on dirty concrete pavement and cook with branches from the trees brought down by Cyclone Idai which swept through southern Africa last week.

Winds of more than 100mph triggered devastating floods and more than 400 people were killed, according to government sources. Land and environment minister Celso Correia said that the situation in the country was now critical.

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‘The water took everything’: Buzi evacuees tell of Cyclone Idai ordeal

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People rescued by boat are arriving at Beira in hope of first aid, shelter and reunion with their families

Standing in the fishing port in Beira, Mozambique, Jose Mala scans the faces of those evacuated by boat from Buzi – one of the towns hardest hit by Cyclone Idai – searching for anyone he knows.

He had hopeful news the day before, says Mala, 27. He met a neighbour at the port who told him his sister and two nephews had survived the cyclone that destroyed large parts of their hometown.

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‘We don’t have anything’: the fight for survival after Cyclone Idai

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In cities and villages across Mozambique the huge need for aid and assistance is not being met by a chaotic rescue effort

The main road connecting the cyclone-devastated Mozambican city of Beira to neighbouring Zimbabwe comes to an abrupt end. A section almost 100 metres wide is almost entirely underwater, an angry muddy gash where the tarmac was ripped away by the floods and raging currents.

A week after the onset of Cyclone Idai, as the waters have receded in some places, some of those trapped in villages in the midst of the flood waters have at last managed to get out with huge effort.

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Cyclone Idai brings devastation to Mozambique – visual guide

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Rescuers race to reach tens of thousands of people trapped by vast areas of flooding

Idai first hit Mozambique on 4 March as a tropical depression with torrential rain that also affected southern Malawi. It then changed course, moving back over the sea where the storm strengthened to a cyclone with the equivalent force of a category 3 hurricane.

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Cyclone Idai witness describes seeing hundreds of bodies by roadside

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Fears situation far worse than official death toll, as communities ‘totally obliterated’

Entire villages have been destroyed in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and most of their inhabitants swept away, as rescuers race to save tens of thousands of people trapped by flood waters from Cyclone Idai.

Testimony collected from areas entirely cut off by flooding shows a situation far worse than indicated by official figures, with estimates from some witnesses suggesting that the death toll will reach the thousands.

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Witness describes flood-hit Mozambique: ‘We just saw total devastation’ – audio

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In the aftermath of Cyclone Idai, Zimbabwean Graham Taylor has described the ‘total devastation, carnage and deaths’. Taylor was travelling through the flood-hit countryside of Mozambique. ‘As far as I could look and walk I came across two, three, four hundred bodies floating and on the side of the road,’ he said

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Mozambique rescue teams struggle to save thousands

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Workers appeal for more helicopters as flood waters keep rising after Cyclone Idai

Rescue teams in Mozambique are struggling to reach the thousands of people stranded on roofs and in trees and urgently need more helicopters and boats as post-cyclone flood waters continue to rise.

Mozambique, which was hit by Cyclone Idai over the weekend, has declared a state of emergency and is appealing for international help.

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Cyclone Idai ‘might be southern hemisphere’s worst such disaster’

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Millions from Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe affected as houses and roads submerged

The devastating cyclone that hit south-eastern Africa may be the worst ever disaster to strike the southern hemisphere, according to the UN.

Cyclone Idai has swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe over the past few days, destroying almost everything in its path, causing devastating floods, killing and injuring thousands of people and ruining crops. More than 2.6 million people could be affected across the three countries, and the port city of Beira, which was hit on Friday and is home to 500,000 people, is now an “island in the ocean”, almost completely cut off.

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Cyclone Idai leaves trail of destruction in southern Africa – video report

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More than 1,000 people are feared dead after Tropical Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique on Friday. At least 215 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds are missing across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, according to government agencies and the Red Cross, which said 1.5 million people had been affected. A more precise death toll and the true scale of the damage is not likely to be known soon, as many areas are cut off

• Cyclone Idai: more than 1,000 feared dead in Mozambique

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Aerial footage shows Cyclone Idai devastation in Mozambique – video

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Aerial footage shows the scale of damage to Beira in Mozambique following Cyclone Idai. Up to 90% of the port city has been damaged or destroyed, according to the Red Cross.

Idai hit Beira last week before moving inland and spreading heavy winds and rain to Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 215 people have been killed by the storm across the affected countries, while hundreds more are missing and more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the widespread destruction and flooding

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Cyclone Idai death toll in Mozambique ‘could rise above 1,000’

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President describes scale of disaster as huge, as Red Cross says most of Beira damaged or destroyed

More than 1,000 people are feared dead in a devastating cyclone that hit Mozambique on Friday, the country’s president has said.

Filipe Nyusi told Mozambican radio he had seen “many bodies” floating in the overflowing Pungwe and Busi rivers. “It appears that we can register more than 1,000 deaths,” he said, adding that more than 100,000 people were at risk because of severe flooding.

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Ex-mercenary claims South African group tried to spread Aids

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New documentary details unit’s disturbing obsession with HIV

A South Africa-based mercenary group has been accused by one of its former members of trying to intentionally spread Aids in southern Africa in the 1980s and 1990s.

The claims are made by Alexander Jones in a documentary that premieres this weekend at the Sundance film festival. He says he spent years as an intelligence officer with the South African Institute for Maritime Research (SAIMR), three decades ago, when it was masterminding coups and other violence across Africa.

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Ex-Credit Suisse bankers arrested in $2bn fraud investigation

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Trio arrested in London on US charges as calls grow for debt claim against Mozambique to be dropped

Three former Credit Suisse bankers have been arrested in London on US charges of alleged involvement in a fraud involving $2bn (£1.6bn) in loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique.

Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, and a senior executive from the shipbuilder Privinvest Group, Jean Boustani, have also been arrested in South Africa and New York, respectively, in recent days.

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