Overcrowded Ferry Sinks Off Mozambique, Resulting in 90+ Deaths

Published: 08 April 2024 at 01:44

Travel

A makeshift ferry carrying about 130 passengers sank off the north coast of Mozambique, leading to the deaths of over 90 people, including many children. The boat was overcrowded and unfit for passengers. Most passengers were escaping mainland panic over a cholera outbreak. The country has recorded almost 15,000 cholera cases and 32 deaths. Nampula, the worst-affected region, received an influx of people fleeing jihadist attacks in Cabo Delgado. The boat disaster is under investigation. Mozambique Island, the destination, is a UNESCO world heritage site. Mozambique has faced challenges from an insurgency.

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Island of Mozambique (Wikipedia)

The Island of Mozambique (Portuguese: Ilha de Moçambique) lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay, and is part of Nampula Province. Prior to 1898, it was the capital of colonial Portuguese East Africa. With its rich history and sandy beaches, the Island of Mozambique is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Mozambique's fastest-growing tourist destinations. It has a permanent population of approximately 14,000 people and is served by nearby Lumbo Airport on the Nampula mainland. The name of the country, Mozambique, is derived from the name of this island.

Mozambique (Wikipedia)

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east. The capital and largest city is Maputo.Between the 7th and 11th centuries, a series of Swahili port towns developed on that area, which contributed to the development of a distinct Swahili culture and dialect. In the late medieval period, these towns were frequented by traders from Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and India. The voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1498 marked the arrival of the Portuguese, who began a gradual process of colonisation and settlement in 1505. After over four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique gained independence in 1975, becoming the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. After only two years of independence, the country descended into an intense and protracted civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992. In 1994, Mozambique held its first multiparty elections and has since remained a relatively stable presidential republic, although it still faces a low-intensity insurgency distinctively in the farthermost regions from the southern capital and where Islam is dominant.Mozambique is endowed with rich and extensive natural resources, notwithstanding the country's economy is based chiefly on fishery—substantially molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms—and agriculture with a growing industry of food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and oil. The tourism sector is expanding. South Africa remains Mozambique's main trading partner, preserving a close relationship with Portugal with a perspective on other European markets. Since 2001, Mozambique's GDP growth has been thriving, but since 2014/15, both a significant decrease in household real consumption and a sharp rise in economic inequality have been observed. The nation remains one of the poorest and most underdeveloped countries in the world, ranking low in GDP per capita, human development, measures of inequality and average life expectancy.The country's population of around 30 million, as of 2022 estimates, is composed of overwhelmingly Bantu peoples. However, the only official language in Mozambique is Portuguese, which is spoken in urban areas as a first or second language by most, and generally as a lingua franca between younger Mozambicans with access to formal education. The most important local languages include Tsonga, Makhuwa, Sena, Chichewa, and Swahili. Glottolog lists 46 languages spoken in the country, of which one is a signed language (Mozambican Sign Language/Língua de sinais de Moçambique). The largest religion in Mozambique is Christianity, with significant minorities following Islam and African traditional religions. Mozambique is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Southern African Development Community, and is an observer at La Francophonie.

Mozambique Island Bridge (Wikipedia)

Mozambique Island Bridge is a bridge in Mozambique that connects the Island of Mozambique, the former capital of colonial Portuguese East Africa to the mainland over the Indian Ocean.

Cabo Delgado Province (Wikipedia)

Cabo Delgado [ˈkaβu ðɛlˈɣaðu] is the northernmost province of Mozambique. It has an area of 82,625 km2 (31,902 sq mi) and a population of 2,320,261 (2017). As well as bordering Mtwara Region in the neighboring country of Tanzania, it borders the provinces of Nampula and Niassa. The region is an ethnic stronghold of the Makonde tribe, with the Makua and Mwani as leading ethnic minorities.Pemba is the capital of the province; other important cities include Montepuez and Mocímboa da Praia.

South African charter boat captain missing after vessel burns in Mozambique, foul play suspected

South African authorities are searching for missing charter boat captain John Matambu and his passenger after their burnt vessel, Magnum Too, was found abandoned on a beach in Mozambique with no sign of them. The passenger who hired the boat provided false contact details and only he boarded, raising concerns of foul play. The National Sea Rescue Institute suspects foul play and the Police Sea Borderline Control agency is involved in the search. Matambu, a respected captain in Sodwana Bay, remains missing in unknown circumstances.

Cargo ship off the coast of Somalia boarded by armed individuals in suspected pirate attack

A cargo ship, flying the flag of Bangladesh and heading from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates, was boarded by 20 armed individuals about 600 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. Both Ambrey and the UKMTO reported the incident, with concerns growing due to a resurgence in pirate activities in the region since late last year. Conflicting reports exist about the crew's whereabouts, and the incident may be linked to the chaos caused by Houthi attacks in Yemen and conflicts in Gaza.

Nampula (Wikipedia)

Nampula [nɐ̃ˈpulɐ] is the capital city of Nampula Province in Northern Mozambique. With a population of 743,125 (2017 census), it is the third-largest city in Mozambique after Maputo and Matola. The city is located in the interior of Nampula Province, approximately 200 kilometers from the coast and is surrounded by plains and rocky outcrops. The city is a major regional centre for the entire Northern region of Mozambique, as well as parts of Central Mozambique and border areas of Malawi and Tanzania.The city links the port city of Nacala with land-locked Southern African countries, particularly Malawi through a road and railway line. The city has a small international airport connecting to Nairobi in Kenya, Johannesburg in South Africa, Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania and is a hub for local transport in northern Mozambique. Nampula is the centre of business in Northern Mozambique, benefitting from highly productive agricultural areas, proximity to the Nacala Development Corridor, and a fast-growing city population.Nampula is home to the Mozambican National Ethnographic Museum, several markets, cathedrals, mosques, universities, training institutes and schools. The city is diverse, with the native eMakhuwa population being the largest group but with a visible Indian, European, Chinese, Lebanese, Somali, and Nigerian population.

Nampula Province (Wikipedia)

Nampula [nɐ̃ˈpulɐ] is a province of northern Mozambique. It has an area of 79,010 km2 (30,510 sq mi) and a population of 5,758,920, making it the most populous province in Mozambique (2017 census). Nampula is the capital of the province.

2021 Cabo Delgado offensives (Wikipedia)

From July to November 2021, the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces (FADM) and Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), and belligerents from Southern African Development Community (SADC) states, conducted offensives in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, against local rebels loyal to the Islamic State's Central Africa Province (IS-CAP). The first offensive succeeded in retaking the important town of Mocímboa da Praia which had previously fallen to rebels as a result of the insurgency in Cabo Delgado.

Mozambique Channel (Wikipedia)

The Mozambique Channel (French: Canal du Mozambique, Malagasy: Lakandranon'i Mozambika, Portuguese: Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about 1,700 km (900 nmi; 1,100 mi) long and 419 km (226 nmi; 260 mi) across at its narrowest point, and reaches a depth of 3,292 m (10,801 ft) about 230 km (124 nmi; 143 mi) off the coast of Mozambique. A warm current, the Mozambique Current, flows in a southward direction in the channel, leading into the Agulhas Current off the east coast of Southern Africa.

Southern Africa Faces Hunger, Malnutrition, and Water Scarcity Due to Drought and Floods

More than 24 million people in southern Africa are at risk of hunger, malnutrition, and water scarcity due to drought and floods. Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi have declared national disasters, with Zimbabwe requiring over $2 billion in aid. The drought, intensified by El Nino, is exacerbated by the climate crisis, leading to severe weather conditions. Countries like Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are already facing challenges from the prolonged dry spell and low rainfall levels.

Insurgency in Cabo Delgado (Wikipedia)

The insurgency in Cabo Delgado is an ongoing Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, mainly fought between militant Islamists and jihadists attempting to establish an Islamic state in the region, and Mozambican security forces. Civilians have been the main targets of terrorist attacks by Islamist militants. The main insurgent faction is Ansar al-Sunna, a native extremist faction with tenuous international connections. From mid-2018, the Islamic State's Central Africa Province has allegedly become active in northern Mozambique as well, and claimed its first attack against Mozambican security forces in June 2019. In addition, bandits have exploited the rebellion to carry out raids. As of 2020, the insurgency intensified, as in the first half of 2020 there were nearly as many attacks carried out as in the whole of 2019.Ansar al-Sunna (English: "Supporters of the Tradition") is similar to the name of an Iraqi Sunni insurgent group that fought against U.S. troops between 2003 and 2007. They are known locally as al-Shabaab but they are not formally related to the better known Somali al-Shabaab. Some of the militants are known to speak Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique, however others speak Kimwane, the local language, and Swahili, the lingua franca language spoken north of that area in the Great Lakes region. Reports also state that members are allegedly mostly Mozambicans from Mocimboa da Praia, Palma, and Macomia districts, but also include foreign nationals from Tanzania and Somalia.

Demographics of Mozambique (Wikipedia)

The demographics of Mozambique describes the condition and overview of Mozambique's peoples. Demographic topics include basic education, health, and population statistics as well as identified racial and religious affiliations.

Economy of Mozambique (Wikipedia)

The economy of Mozambique is $14.396 billion by gross domestic product as of 2018, and has developed since the end of the Mozambican Civil War (1977–1992). In 1987, the government embarked on a series of macroeconomic reforms, which were designed to stabilize the economy. These steps, combined with donor assistance and with political stability since the multi-party elections in 1994, have led to dramatic improvements in the country's growth rate. Inflation was brought to single digits during the late 1990s, although it returned to double digits in 2000–02. Fiscal reforms, including the introduction of a value-added tax and reform of the customs service, have improved the government's revenue collection abilities.In spite of these gains, Mozambique remains dependent upon foreign assistance for much of its annual budget. Subsistence agriculture continues to employ the vast majority of the country's workforce. A substantial trade imbalance persists. However, the opening of the Mozal aluminium smelter, the country's largest foreign investment project to date, has increased export earnings. Additional investment projects in titanium extraction and processing and garment manufacturing should further close the import/export gap. Mozambique's once substantial foreign debt has been reduced through forgiveness and rescheduling under the International Monetary Fund's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Enhanced HIPC initiatives, and is now at a manageable level. Mozambique is a least developed country according to United Nations.

Languages of Mozambique (Wikipedia)

Mozambique is a multilingual country. A number of Bantu languages are indigenous to Mozambique. Portuguese, inherited from the colonial period (see: Portuguese Mozambique), is the official language, and Mozambique is a full member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. Ethnologue lists 43 languages spoken in the country.According to INE, the National Institute of Statistics of Mozambique, Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in Mozambique: according to the 2007 national population and housing census, 50.4% of the national population aged 5 and older (80.8% of people living in urban areas and 36.3% in rural areas) are fluent in the language. The 2017 national population and housing census found out that Portuguese is spoken by 47.3% of all Mozambicans aged 5 and older, with native speakers making up 16.6% of the population (38.3% in the cities and 5.1% in rural areas, respectively) Mozambique has 22 Bantu origin languages which are: Swahili, Makhuwa, Sena, Ndau, Tswa-Ronga (Tsonga), Lomwe, Ekoti, Nahara, Makonde, Chopi, Chuwabu, Ronga, Kimwani, Nhungwe, Chimanika, Shona, Chiyao, Chichewa, Bitonga, Ngoni, Tswa and Chitewe. The language of the deaf community is Mozambican Sign Language.Small communities of Arabs, Chinese, and Indians (primarily the Gujarati language) speak their own languages (Indians from Portuguese India speak any of the Portuguese Creoles of their origin) aside from Portuguese as their second language.Article 9 of Mozambique's constitution provides for the recognition of national languages and that such languages be considered of "cultural and educational heritage" and that the state "shall promote their development and increasing use as languages that convey our identity". Portuguese is deemed the country's official language by article 10.

Goa Island (Wikipedia)

Goa Island (Portuguese: Ilha de Goa, lit. 'Island of Goa'), locally known as Watólofu, also known as Saint George Island (Portuguese: Ilha São Jorge), is a small archetypal desert peninsula, with a flat rocky brown coral reef, outcrop with dense borderline vegetation, white sand beach and a lighthouse. It is surrounded by crystal clear water, home to a variety of tropical fishes. The island is uninhabited and located within Nampula Province in Mozambique. It is situated in the Indian Ocean near Mozambique Channel about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of Mozambique Island and is part of the archipelago with Island of Sena (Portuguese: Ilha de Sena) and Island of Mozambique (Portuguese: Ilha de Moçambique).

Portuguese Mozambique (Wikipedia)

Portuguese Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique) or Portuguese East Africa (África Oriental Portuguesa) were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese colony. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a string of Portuguese possessions along the south-east African coast, and later became a unified colony, which now forms the Republic of Mozambique.Portuguese trading settlements—and later, colonies—were formed along the coast and into the Zambezi basin from 1498 when Vasco da Gama first reached the Mozambican coast. Lourenço Marques explored the area that is now Maputo Bay in 1544. The Portuguese increased efforts for occupying the interior of the colony after the Scramble for Africa, and secured political control over most of its territory in 1918, facing the resistance of Africans during the process.Some territories in Mozambique were handed over in the late 19th century for rule by chartered companies like the Mozambique Company (Companhia de Moçambique), which had the concession of the lands corresponding to the present-day provinces of Manica and Sofala, and the Niassa Company (Companhia do Niassa), which had controlled the lands of the modern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Niassa. The Mozambique Company relinquished its territories back to Portuguese control in 1942, unifying Mozambique under control of the Portuguese government.The region as a whole was long officially termed Portuguese East Africa, and was subdivided into a series of colonies extending from Lourenço Marques in the south to Niassa in the north. Cabo Delgado was initially merely a strip of territory along the Rovuma River, including Cape Delgado itself, which Portugal acquired out of German East Africa in 1919, but it was enlarged southward to the Lurio River to form what is now Cabo Delgado Province. In the Zambezi basin were the colonies of Quelimane (now Zambezia Province) and Tete (in the panhandle between Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe), which were for a time merged as Zambezia. The colony of Moçambique (now Nampula Province) had the Island of Mozambique as its capital. The island was also the seat of the Governor-General of Portuguese East Africa until the late 1890s, when that official was officially moved to the city of Lourenço Marques. Also in the south was the colony of Inhambane, which lay north-east of Lourenço Marques. Once these colonies were merged, the region as a whole became known as Moçambique.According to the official policy of the Salazar regime, inspired on the concept of Lusotropicalismo, Mozambique was claimed as an integral part of the "pluricontinental and multiracial nation" of Portugal, as was done in all of its colonies to Europeanise the local population and assimilate them into Portuguese culture. This policy was largely unsuccessful, however, and African opposition to colonisation led to a ten-year independence war that culminated in the Carnation Revolution at Lisbon in April 1974 and the independence from Portugal in June 1975.