To be sure, if wrongdoing occurred in Mozambique, it should be punished. But is that a reason to avoid the bigger and more imperative for Mozambique to stand strong on its own?
The international media have missed the boat when it comes to the story of the so-called “hidden debt scandal” in the southern African nation of Mozambique. With U.S. indictments filed in New York late last year and national elections in Mozambique this October, nearly three years of news coverage has focused on how the emerging African country financed the purchase of commercial and security ships in 2013 and how it all unraveled. Unfortunately, that has overshadowed the bigger news surrounding Mozambique: The long-time recipient of foreign aid is now poised to become an African success story in its own right – if it can just manage its coastal assets.
In a thought-provoking essay, “How to Write About Africa,” the late Senegalese author Binyavanga Wainaina called out the international community for its insistence on depicting Africans as victims. The coverage of the debt scandal has followed in this vein, painting poor Mozambique as victimized by foreign actors. It’s more a mindless reflex of fly-through journalists than it is an effort to understand what really happened. In the case of Mozambique and its boats, facts matter.
Six years ago, Mozambique’s government guaranteed $2 billion in loans to three state-run companies to purchase tuna-fishing vessels, advanced coastal patrol boats, and the infrastructure to support their respective operations. The vendor was Privinvest, a globally respected supplier of vessels to more than 40 governments’ navies. The U.S. indictments allege that the sale was aided by bribes and corrupt bankers. Not only are the accusations denied, but a growing number of critics say the prosecutorial overreach and Byzantine attempts to justify U.S. jurisdiction are laughable.
The larger point is that, by 2016, the boats and systems were delivered by Privinvest. But due to accusations about their financing and government inattention, they sit in dry-dock. It’s a shame. The patrol ships could clear the way for the tuna boats to strengthen domestic fisheries and prevent illegal fishing by foreign fleets – mostly China’s – that rob Mozambicans of their birthright. The tools for success have been delivered, and now just need to be deployed.
The real story here is about a country poised to fully exploit its globally-admired coast, reaping billions in natural-gas revenues from offshore fields and from fishing its abundant waters, which teem with tuna and other marketable catch.
It’s not surprising that the international media would miss the real story in Mozambique. One doesn’t have to look too far to find examples of African success stories that have been overlooked. When you think of Somalia, images of gaunt, gun-waving pirates or malicious warlords likely leap to mind. In all likelihood, the semi-autonomous region of Puntland doesn’t.
But it should. Around the same time Mozambique decided to buy the vessels that still wait to be put into service, authorities in the Somali region of Puntland – the Horn of Africa – were successfully fighting pirates with a force trained by a private military contractor. Both pirate bosses and the Islamic group Al-Shabaab were using Puntland as a staging ground for acts of crime and terror until authorities started pushing back. With financial backing from the United Arab Emirates, local forces were trained and equipped to help the government prevail. That is actually happening.
Mozambique similarly has the tools on hand to take charge of its fate. According to the U.S. Navy, maritime situational awareness and maritime domain awareness are the underpinnings of a coastal nation’s ability to secure its shores and maintain stability. In other words, without patrol boats, radar or satellite capacity, Mozambique could not achieve meaningful security. But it has them. Now it needs to use them.
The hope is that this fall’s presidential election will refresh Mozambique’s political landscape and refocus its leaders on the assets it has at the ready to help realize the nation’s major maritime promise.
Handwringing is all too common when the world looks at Africa. To be sure, if wrongdoing occurred in Mozambique, it should be punished. But is that a reason to avoid the bigger and more imperative for Mozambique to stand strong on its own? The real story about this African nation moving beyond typical obstacles to find prosperity is one that has yet to be written.
I have been teaching English and geography in South Africa for thirty years. I have been writing travel stories about and taking all sorts of people to Mozambique for twenty seven years.
All aspects of Mozambique, from Vasco da Gama to Samora Machel and from the Ponta do Ouro to the Rio Rovuma, are my hobby and my passion.
Mozambique is a fantastic country to visit and I eagerly support writers who use carefully researched facts presented in a balanced and informative manner to counter the perceived Afro-pessimism of the “International community”.
I have now read this article again.
Once more the manner in which many aspects of its content and commentary point to a deep irony worries me.
I will ignore the final (also used as the introductory) paragraph as I don’t understand it.
However, I can’t allow the following comments and statements to sneak by unchallenged:
For starters:
“The international media have missed the boat when it comes to the story of the so-called “hidden debt scandal” in the southern African nation of Mozambique.”
I do hope the pun in the above quote is intended, but tired clichés become even more exhausting when paired with overused and (in this case) inappropriate adjectives such as ” so-called”.
It is blindingly evident that enormous effort and cunning was used to conceal that the amount borrowed was hundreds of millions of dollars more than what was initially admitted to.
Plainly and unambiguously the debt was deliberately and successfully (for four years) “hidden”. https://www.ft.com/content/805d2b58-59a2-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220
And then:
“In the case of Mozambique and its boats, facts matter.”
Facts are like cows in your kitchen. To ignore them is to invite derision and disaster. Strange (ironic) then that what follows does not reflect much respect for detail and accuracy.
For example:
“Six years ago, Mozambique’s government guaranteed $2 billion in loans…”.
For this to be true, the Mozambican “Conselho de Ministros” or Cabinet would have had to been informed of, debated and approved the guarantees for the loans. None of these happened.
On June 3, 2019, Mozambique’s Constitutional Council declared the loans to be illegal and therefore null and void. https://www.reuters.com/article/mozambique-debt/mozambiques-top-court-says-state-guaranteed-eurobond-illegal-idUSL8N23B5N8
It continues:
“The U.S. indictments allege that the sale was aided by bribes and corrupt bankers. Not only are the accusations denied, but a growing number of critics say the prosecutorial overreach and Byzantine attempts to justify U.S. jurisdiction are laughable.”
A strange statement. Funny that the recent admission of complicity by two ex Credit Suisse bankers is ignored?
https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN1UF06U-OZATP
Accusing the United States government of imperialism on a Roman scale – when there is prima facie evidence that US banks were used to launder the stolen billions – is shallow exaggeration for effect.
And this?
“The larger point is that, by 2016, the boats and systems were delivered by Privinvest. But due to accusations about their financing and government inattention, they sit in dry-dock. It’s a shame.”
No, the real reason why the 24 EMATUM tuna boats are rotting (literally) at anchor is that they are not suitable for the stated use: https://allafrica.com/stories/201605240191.html
Granted some of the patrol boats may have made a few trips beyond Mozambique’s harbours, but the navy “don’t have the capacity to staff, service and operate the ships. Unless agreements are quickly implemented with private contractors, there’s a real possibility that the ships will become expensive scrap metal.” https://www.iafrica.com/the-ghost-fleet-of-mozambique/
And then:
“… authorities in the Somali region of Puntland – the Horn of Africa – were successfully fighting pirates with a force trained by a private military contractor.”
Presenting Puntland as an African success story, a deliberately misrepresented victim of the “mindless reflex of fly-through journalists” is shallow and dishonest.
The ironies thicken as ISIS terrorists are reportedly trained in Puntland and have also in recent weeks claimed responsibility for some of the brutal killings of mainly civilians in parts of Cabo Delgado province – the very region where Mozambique’s huge off-shore reserves are yet to become “billions in natural-gas revenues”.
ISIS in Puntland: https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1SG0HN
ISIS in Mozambique:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-06-05-islamic-state-shifts-its-gaze-to-southern-africa-time-to-start-getting-worried/amp/
“The real story here is about a country poised to fully exploit its globally-admired coast, reaping billions in natural-gas revenues from offshore fields and from fishing its abundant waters, which teem with tuna and other marketable catch.”
On what evidence is this concluding statement based?
So, while I am often over-eager to spread any positive stories from my favourite country, I really struggle to find any redeeming elements in the theft of billions of dollars from the people of one of the poorest countries in the world.
And this with the apparent complicity of senior members of the government and by the lending bankers.
So at least the immense gas reserves still have the potential to elevate Mozambicans out of poverty and despair?
Perhaps, but last year I travelled from Pemba using public transport north to Mocimboa da Praia, Palma and Quionga near the border with Tanzania in Cabo Delgado province.
It is unfortunate that, over the past few years, an increase in activities and agreements related to extracting and processing the gas has coincided with the senseless and unprecedented killings of innocent villagers in the adjacent interior.
Yes, some journalists may indeed be blatantly off-target when writing about many countries in Africa, but in Mozambique the real point is that, so far, the prosperity is missing the people.