Back from Mozambique: the new El Dorado or Far West?

This is a country where now you can even choose the type of land related conflict you prefer to analyze: are you interest with mining problems? In that case go to Tete province where the brazilian Vale is having some hard moments with several hundred families protesting against the failure of Vale to carry out a promised resettlement package when they were moved to Cateme to make way for a new coal mine in Moatize. But if you feel more environmentalists and your preferred choice is the REDD+ program, than please have a look onto the bulletin issued on July 9 by Joseph Hanlon (j.hanlon@open.ac.uk) entirely dedicated to this issue, so you will read about the concerns of the peasant organizations as well as of the government itself. If your heart goes more into the more "traditional" land grabbing for basic commodities, than you can start your trip with Nampula, with the most recent clash between local communities, state officers and a private (chinese) "investor". I put "investor" into brackets because it is becoming more and more official what many saw in the field: too much of these "investors" in fact are not investing anything. As per Hanlon bulletin, recently the Ministry of Agriculture reported it inspected 511 plots with 172,000 ha. Of that, 63,000 ha (36%) was being well used, 38,000 ha (22%) was being partially used, and 71,000 ha (42%) was underused. In case you want to stay in the province, you can also try to have a look into the new big program called ProSavanna, who is creating many concerns with peasant organizations. Luckily Mozambique has a clear and strong legislation related to land rights, including community' s rights, and the President himself has several times repeated that these rights will have to be respected and that any new investment will be done together with local partners. In this respect we will continue supporting these efforts, through supporting ernhancement of national institutions dealing with land rights as well as working together with CSOs/NGOs in the field. If Mozambique will be able to show how proper consultations are done, how rights are respect and how family farming, national food security and the primacy of customary rights and cultures are the basis for national development, thus involving the "investors" into this vision of participatory and negotiated territorial development, then this will certainly become an example for the entire Africa. It will not be easy, but we can join forces on this.