Over 100 businesses have left Mozambique because of kidnappings

Maputo, 26 Jul (AIM) – The Mozambican Confederation of Business Associations (CTA) has announced that over 100 business people, most of them of Asian origin, have already left the country as a result of insecurity caused by the wave of kidnappings in Mozambican cities, since the first case was reported 12 years ago.

According to Pedro Baltazar, President of the Security Department at the CTA, speaking to reporters on Thursday, in Maputo, the withdrawal of these business people from the country has had a financial impact running into billions of dollars.

The Strategic Analysis Report (RAE), published by the Mozambican Financial Intelligence Office (GIFiM), which is a specialist unit in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, points out that the kidnappings in Mozambican cities have generated, since 2014, over 33 million dollars in money laundering.

“The amount was “concealed in various accounts, held by the suspects, close relatives of the suspects and companies, controlled by the suspects and/or their close relatives, followed by the illicit export of capital under various pretexts with a view to concealing its criminal origin”, reads the document.

The phenomenon of kidnappings, Baltazar said, is leading to the creation of an army of unemployed. “With each kidnapping, each time a businessman leaves Mozambique, workers become unemployed. The labour market is severely affected”, he warned.

He said that, in recent times, the business sector has been engaging in advocacy aimed at eliminating kidnappings, through a Public-Private dialogue which includes the government at all levels “to stop the problem.”

According to Baltazar, the best approaches to eradicating kidnappings in Mozambique have been discussed in the ongoing consultation with CTA members.

These meetings had resulted in recommendations that have been shared with the government. “For example”, he said, “there is a system that has already been put in place which probably needs to be revised, which is the camera surveillance system in the cities, especially in Maputo and Matola”.

In order to stop the wave of kidnappings, the government has been talking about the need to boost investment in the Mozambican defence and security forces, as well as setting up a specialist anti-kidnapping brigade within the police force.

However, despite repeated government promises, these measures have not been implemented and the country’s cities continue to face kidnappings in broad daylight.

According to the CTA, these 12 years of kidnappings in the country are harming the economy severely, which means that it has become more urgent than ever to put an end to this phenomenon.

(AIM)

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