PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF MOZAMBIQUE

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambique's health services, severely damaged during Mozambique's 16-year civil war, had almost recovered and were expanding, Joaquim Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique and co-winner of the 1997 Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger awarded by The Hunger Project, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning. However, while real progress had been achieved, there was still work to be done to fully restore Mozambique's infrastructure.

Also speaking at the briefing was President Chissano's co-winner of the Africa Prize, Joyce Banda, founder of the National Association of Business Women of Malawi. The two speakers were introduced by Fitigu Tadesse, Director of the Africa Division of The Hunger Project.

President Chissano said Mozambique's effort to eradicate national and regional hunger was not of the material kind. Rather it involved facilitating the creation of conditions that would allow peoples to become self-sufficient. Great destruction and disempowerment had been the result of the civil war that had followed Mozambique's independence from Portugal in 1975. Mozambique was 22 years old, but almost its entire existence had been spent in war. Normalizing the lives of the people had therefore been a priority. Help from the government and the international community had been key in aiding people to become self-sufficient again. Those generally positive results had given Mozambique the courage to proceed with democratization.

Mrs. Banda said Malawi was rated among the world's 13 poorest countries by the World Bank. Eighty-five percent of Malawi's population lived in rural areas; thirty-four percent of households were headed by women; sixty-four percent of the population lived below the poverty line and over seventy percent were illiterate. Her Association encouraged women to enter business by giving them access to training in business management and skills -- 15,000 women were members of the organization, 60 percent of whom were rural women. In the past 18 months, the National Association had disbursed 2.5 million U.S. dollars in loans and trained 12,000 women to run their own businesses. The Association was recognized by the government as a national "mouthpiece" for women.

In response to a correspondent's question about what had been done to improve the state of Mozambique's infrastructure, President Chissano said that schools, health institutions, factories, roads and bridges had been damaged during the civil war. An intensive program of reconstruction had been started. There were more schools in Mozambique then there had been in 1983, the year of the greatest destruction of schools, he said. Roads were being rebuilt and re-opened.

Mozambique Press Conference - 2 - 20 October 1997

Agricultural development, however, had been slow. Landmines continued to be a problem both on the roads and in the fields. Severe damage to the coal mining industry had hampered efforts to reinstate railways.

Asked by another correspondent what the United Nations should do to be more active in internal conflicts in Africa, President Chissano said the United Nations was composed of independent states and was a complex institution. When initiatives were taken, there was not always agreement on how to proceed. In the case of Mozambique, there had been success because of a unanimous national accord on the desire for peace, and there had been a clear sense of how to conduct the United Nations operation.

In response to another question, Mrs. Banda said the removal of long- term government subsidies and a year of heavy rains had damaged the maize crop in Malawi, making it dependent on foreign aid. Mozambique had assisted Malawi by providing maize for consumption. The relationship between Mozambique and Malawi was very good. Mozambique had eased cross-border restrictions to facilitate the sale of maize to Malawi, President Chissano added, in elaborating on the same question. Increased freedom of movement of goods was being discussed.

Asked what the United Nations should do on the situation in the Congo, President Chissano said the two sides should be brought together carefully. The United Nations could not just put itself in the middle. It was not a conventional war and the two sides were not clearly differentiated. Sanctions could not be used. The interests of the people of the Congo should be prioritized. Selfish interests should be put aside.

Relations between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had never been better, President Chissano said in response to another question. There was visible cooperation between the two organisations. The appointment of Mohamed Sahnoun to the post of Special Representative of the United Nations and the OAU to the Great Lakes Region was a good example.

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