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Due to resource constraints, IRIN is not updating the country profile below.
Updated humanitarian country information can be found instead at the Mozambique country page on ReliefWeb [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc104?OpenForm&rc=1&cc=moz].
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 Mozambique
Humanitarian Country Profile |
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Background
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Last update: February 2007 |
In the past 30 years, Mozambique has suffered civil war, natural disasters, and most recently, the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS.
Soon after independence from Portugal in 1975, the government backed the nationalist struggles against white-minority rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. It paid heavily for that support. Rhodesian security forces created the Mozambique National Resistance Movement (RENAMO) to destabilise the country, with apartheid South Africa taking over after Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.
Sixteen years of civil war cost the lives of an estimated one million people - mostly from conflict-related famine. A quarter of the population was dependent on international food aid, a million fled to neighbouring countries. Gains in education and health after independence were reversed, and Mozambique was classified as one of the world's poorest countries.
With the end of the Cold War, the government adopted a progressive constitution in 1990, and dropped Marxism/Leninism in favour of a free-market economy. A United Nations-supported peace agreement was sealed between the government of President Joachim Chissano and RENAMO's head Afonso Dhlakama in 1992. Multiparty elections took place in 1994 under UN supervision, which were won by Chissano with 53 percent of the vote and his ruling FRELIMO party secured an overall majority with 129 of the 250 seats.
Three multiparty elections have been held, all of which have been won by FRELIMO. The current president is Armando Guebuza, with Luisa Diogo as Prime Minister.
Peace and security
Peace has prevailed since the ceasefire was declared in 1992, although political tensions between the authorities and RENAMO rise sharply during elections. Demobilisation was largely successful, but weapons, including AK47 assault rifles, are readily available and armed crime has escalated. There is little confidence in the police force and the judicial system as a whole. The judicial system is being reformed.
IDPs/Refugees
Most of the estimated one million refugees, who fled to neighbouring countries, returned soon after the peace accord, and displaced people returned home.
Democracy and governance
Three multi-party general elections have been held. The ruling FRELIMO party has won each time. Just before the third election, Chissano voluntarily stepped down after almost two decades in power. Guebuza led FRELIMO to its third victory in February 2005. RENAMO, still led by Dhlakama, alleged fraud but electoral monitors said the irregularities would probably not have changed the results.
A progressive constitution is in place, which guarantees press freedom, gender equality and basic human rights.
Corruption and organised crime are major problems. Prisons are overcrowded and access to the judiciary is poor.
One of the most prominent cases of corruption involved a scandal in a newly privatised bank. An economist, Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua, who was appointed to launch a debt recovery programme at the bank, was killed. A forensic report of the bank is currently with the judiciary. The donors say it will be a key test for Mozambique.
Media
The constitution guarantees freedom of the press. A new press law is under review.
Radio is the most popular medium because of the low levels of illiteracy. Community radio is gaining popularity, with about 40 stations set up with funding from the government and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The press has been known to be critical, but there have been cases of intimidation. Investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso was shot dead in 2000 while investigating a bank scandal. Six people received long prison sentences for his murder following a televised trial, but one of the accused, known as Anibalzinho, has ‘escaped’ twice under suspicious circumstances.
Economy
The economy, battered by the war, has shown encouraging signs of recovery, recording impressive rates of growth - averaging 8 percent since the late 1990s.
However, much of the growth is from mega-projects such as the MOZAL aluminium plant, a joint government investment with Australia, Japan and South Africa, which contributed about 10 percent to gross domestic product (GDP) after its first year of operation in 2001, but has not helped to ease high unemployment. Such projects also enjoy massive tax exemptions and have little impact on poverty. About 70 percent of the population is dependent on subsistence agriculture; commercialising the agriculture sector remains a challenge. Tourism is benefiting from major investments.
Barriers to private sector development include the lack of access to credit. High interest rates and prohibitive collateral requirements are major problems.
Nevertheless, poverty fell to 54 percent in 2002/2003 compared with 69.4 per cent in 1996/1997. The government has succeeded in controlling inflation and has achieved currency stability.
Population
According to UNDP Human Development Report, Mozambique has 19.4 million people.
A variety of African ethnic groups of Bantu origin live in the country, including Makua, Shona, Tsonga and Asian and European minorities. More than 70 percent of the population is rural.
Development indicators
Mozambique ranks 168th out of 177 countries, on the UNDP Human Development Index. According to UNDP Human Development Report 2006, nearly 40 percent of Mozambicans live on less than US$1 a day and the average Mozambican has less than a 50 percent chance of reaching the age of 40. HIV/AIDS, with disproportionately higher prevalence rates among young females, is considered one of the most serious threats, with the potential of wiping out all past and current gains.
Almost a quarter of the country’s children are underweight and according to UNFPA, Mozambique has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world (1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births).
Education
The government has made efforts to decentralise its political and economic structures and improve social services. Schools have increased their enrollments dramatically. The net school attendance rate, only 43 percent in 1991, shot up to 71 percent in 2004, according to the UNDP Human Development Report 2006. However, the quality of education remains a challenge. Most classrooms are overcrowded with about 70 children to just one teacher, almost half of whom are unqualified. Repetition rates are high, reaching 21 percent in 2004. The proportion of girl pupils attending school remains lower than that of boys and according to UNICEF figures, literacy rates for men in 2006 were 67 percent compared with 38 percent for women.
Children
The government has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but many children's rights are not met in what is still one of the world's poorest countries. Child survival is still one of the major challenges.
Although a child's chances of survival has improved considerably in recent years, with under-five mortality dropping by 18 percent between 1997 and 2003, out of 1,000 children born in Mozambique, 152 will die before reaching the age of five, according to 2006 UNICEF figures.
Malaria is the primary child killer, accounting for 35 percent of all child deaths. Others include acute respiratory infections and malnutrition. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of about half of all child deaths. In rural areas, chronic malnutrition (stunting) among children stands at 46 percent, and in the Northern provinces of the country it is even higher, reaching 56 percent in Cabo Delgado.
Diarrhoeal diseases, including cholera, are also significant problems. Only slightly more than a third of Mozambicans benefit from safe water supply, while safe sanitation coverage reaches only 45 percent.
Vaccination-preventable deaths are decreasing. In 1997, only 47 percent of one-year-olds were fully vaccinated, but by 2003 that figure had climbed to 63 percent.
Health
The primary health network covers only 40-60 percent of the population. This situation is compounded by a dire shortage of health personnel. According to UNDP Human Development Report, the country has only three doctors for every 100,000 inhabitants. These rates are far lower than for neighbouring countries.
Tuberculosis is on the increase and malaria remains endemic. Despite government efforts, 74 percent of the population in rural areas do not have access to clean water and 71 percent do not use an improved latrine. The situation is slightly better in urban areas, but even so, 60 percent of the population cannot access clean water and 64 percent do not have access to improved latrines.
HIV/AIDS
Mozambique is one of the 10 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS in the world. An estimated 16.2 per cent of the population aged 15 to 49 is HIV-positive. There are considerable geographical variations, with an estimated 25 percent of pregnant women living with the virus in Beira, in the central province of Sofala.
There are an estimated 500 new infections every day. HIV/AIDS has created an orphan crisis; about 225,000 children have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS.
The government, with support from its partner organisations, has managed to supply 34,000 people with antiretrovirals (ARVs) and it aims to reach 50,000 by the end of 2006, against the estimated 250,000 people who require ARVs to prolong their lives.
Food security
The government has set up early-warning systems to mitigate the effects of natural disasters. Drought and floods are perennial problems and leave hundreds of thousands of people without sufficient food.
Gender issues
The constitution enshrines gender equality and legislation has been passed to support women's rights. Women are well represented in parliament - 30 percent of MPs are women, as is the prime minister and the foreign minister. But in the home women often have little negotiating power.
Despite the government's efforts to eliminate gender disparities in access to education, the proportion of girls attending school is significantly lower than for boys. In secondary school only 40.7 percent of the pupils are girls, which is even worse than the figure suggests because there are more women in the population.
Human rights
The constitution is progressive but civil society is relatively weak and access to legal redress is poor.
Humanitarian needs
Because of a 77 percent shortfall in funding in November 2006, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to cut by half its rations to hundreds of thousands of people who suffer food shortages in Mozambique.
The food agency urgently requires US$10 million to feed 460,000 people until March 2007 when people can harvest. It assists 292,000 people who are affected by drought, HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty. |
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| Mozambique in figures | · Population: 19.4 million
· Pop growth rate: 1.7%
· GDP per capita: US$1,237
· Pop. below poverty line: 37.8%
· Life expectancy: 41.6 years
· Infant mortality: 104 per 1,000
· Access to med. services: N/A
· HIV prevalence: 16.1%
· Access to electricity: N/A
· Literacy rate: 46%
· Doctors/people: 3 per 100,000 people
· Displaced people: N/A
· Refugees: N/A
· Human Development Index: 0.390 (HDI 2006 Rank 168)
Sources: UNDP |
| Basic facts | Capital: Maputo
Language: Portuguese (official) Makua-Lomwe, T'songa, Shona, Swahili
Ethnic Groups: Makua: 47%, Tsonga 23% Shona 11% and other smaller ethnic groups and small Asian and European minorities.
Religions: Indigenous beliefs, Christianity and Islam. The latter is gaining popularity throughout the country and is especially strong in the north.
Geography: southern eastern Africa, coastal, Indian Ocean
Border countries: South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania
Natural resources: electricity, aluminium, natural gas, coal, semi-precious stones
Agricultural products: fisheries, including prawns, cashew nuts, cereals (not wheat), cotton, sugarcane, tea, coconuts, sunflowers and a variety of fruit and vegetables
Sources: EIU, NI, BBC, Reuters AlertNet |
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