Mozambique’s government has failed to hold anyone to account for serious abuses by both state security forces and the opposition Renamo in the year prior to a December 2016 ceasefire, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.
The UK Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, is visiting Mozambique this week. The country is in a debt crisis after Mozambican officials borrowed $2 billion from the branches of two London based banks, Credit Suisse and VTB Capital, in 2013.
A summary of the independent audit into the secret loans to Mozambique has been released by US company Kroll. While information is still lacking in many areas, it offers a strong critique of the deals, providing further evidence of why the Mozambique people should not have to make one dollar of debt payments, says Jubilee Debt Campaign.
Campaigners in Mozambique have called for secret debts to be cancelled before the IMF lends to the country again, alongside a range of measures including public disclosure of the audit into the debts, mechanisms to hold leaders accountable for actions and greater tax collection from megaprojects in the country.