Maputo, 22 Nov (AIM) – Stories appearing in some Mozambican social media that Foreign Minister Veronica Macamo has gone to Brussels for negotiations “to keep Frelimo in power” cannot possibly be true, since Macamo is nowhere near the Belgian capital.
The story is that Macamo, who is also the national election agent for the ruling Frelimo Party, is negotiating political support for Frelimo from the European Union in exchange for concessions involving natural gas and petroleum.
These stories called on Mozambicans to send messages to embassies of EU member states (such as Portugal, France and Italy) and to leaders such as US president-elect Donald Trump denouncing this alleged sell-out.
But when the fact checking branch of the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) took a closer look at the story, it found that Macamo has not visited Brussels, or anywhere else in Europe, recently.
The Minister’s press office told MISA that she is in Mozambique, and has not been outside the country for the past two weeks. A check on all the Mozambican mainstream media also shows no reference to Macamo leaving the country in the past fortnight, and no mention of any negotiations concerning Frelimo or anything else.
(AIM)
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