Afrca 2000

Republic of Mozambique

A Luta Continua!

The area now known as the Republic of Mozambique was colonized by the Portuguese for almost 500 years (1505-1975), as were Angola, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau. Mozambique is the third largest former colony of Portugal after giant Brazil and oil rich Angola. It is the only Portuguese speaking nation on Africa’s eastern rim and has a coastlinfe nearly 3500 kms long on the shores of the Mozambique Channel separating mainland Africa from the vast island of Madagascar.
Mozambique, to a much greater extent than its sister former colonies in Africa, has been almost completely Saturated by the culture, language and mannerisms of Prortugal. This is reflected in the near domination of the Portuguese language Mozambique attained its freedom in 1975 after a bitter 10 year war of independence, and hastened by the 1974 democratic revolution in Portugal, which had arranged for Frelimo (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) to administer the new nation. Unfortunately, Frelimo, led by the popular, energetic and highly missed President Samora Machel, quickly embraced socialism, alienating the remaining expatriates as well as apartheid South Africa. A blody civil war erupted between Frelimo and Renamo (Mozambique National Resistance). Throughout the 80’s. In 1986, President Machel was killed in a plane crash just over the border in South Africa in very suspicious circumstances pointing to an assassination by the South African secret service.
Frelimo renounced Marxism –Leninism in 1989. A new constitution in 1990 allowed multiparty democracy and a gree market economy.
President Joachim, Chissano came into office in 1986 and stayed in elected power until 2005. He presided over an economic resurgence and is credited with providing Mozambique with efficient governance at the highest level.
In recognition of this achievement, former president was selected Joachim Chissano last Monday, October 22, 2007, to be the recipient of the 5 mln dollar Mo-Ibrahim Good Governance Index award. Capital congratulates him and the people and government of Mozambique.

Facts and Figures

Location-On southeast coast of Africa, Tanzania on North, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe on West, South Africa and Swaziland on South
Area-801,590 sq km
Topography-Coastal lowlands, plateaus rise to mountains along western borders
Population-20,530,023
Distribution - 37 % urban
Ethnic Make-up-Shangaan, Chokwe, Manyika, Sena, Makoa
Languages –Portuguese (official) and dialects, English
Religions –Indigenous beliefs, Christian, Muslim,
Capital City – Maputo
Government Type – Republic
Head of State – President Armando Guebuza, since 2005
Head of Government – Prime Minister Louisa Diogo, since 2004
Currency – METICAL (MZN) 27.03 = $ 1 US
Gross Domestic Product - $ 26 bln
Per Capita GDP -$ 1,300
Economy – Cotton, cashewnuts, tea, sugarcane, beverages, chemicals, textiles, cement
Electricity Production – 11.6 bln kwh
Literacy – 48%
Life Expectancy – 42 male, 41 female
AIDS Rate – 16.1 %
Ports – Maputo, Beira, Nacala, Inhambane
Airports – 22
Railroads – 3124 kms
Vehicles – 160,000 units
Telephones – 70,000 lines
Radios – 40 per 1000 people
TV sets – 5 per 1000.
Daily Newspaper Circulation – 2.5 per 1000 people
Internet – 138,000 users

Facts and figures are the latest available at time of publication and may not necessarily be the most accurate.

The Beyonce Buoyant Experience
Beyonce; Bello Embustero

The Millennium Hall was once again a place for the hottest party on until three in the morning. This time the very much anticipated 26 year old R&B star, Beyonce Knowles was in control and she showed why there were months of buzz about her coming. Starting from six thirty, the two thousand five hundred students who had their entrance covered by Sheik Mohammed Al-Amoudi and thousands of music fans who paid up to fifteen hundred birr were flowing to the millennium hall. As one passes the security checkpoint, they are directed to the buffet to the right of the entrance. This avoided the long lines that were seen on previous occasions and allowed the guests to enjoy the Tibes dinner comfortably. These buffets also served soft drinks so that you don't have to go all the way inside the hall for the drinks. The stranger staff was served, like on the pervious occasions, inside the hall.
In one of the two stages specially built for the occasion, rapper Ludacris's Dj entertained the crowd for an hour. As later seen on the show, one of the stages was for Amharic artists and the other relatively smaller but with modern lighting and music instrument was for Beyonce. Since both of the stages couldn't be seen at the start, people couldn't decide where to secure a place near by. Most of them simply stood in the middle arguing on which stage Beyonce will perform. Around eight o'clock, the count down to the stars started. Ludacris performed for one hour straight, dressed in black with Ethiopian flag Banda which he later gave to the audience. He even forced the VIPs that were sitting way back to be a little bit 'less moody'. He said that he thanks both Al-amoudi and the prime minister for having him here on this special occasion. As usual he had something to say about the ladies seen dancing in front of the stage. The foreigners and also Ethiopian ladies were practically almost 'naked'. Their attire might trick you to think if they are among Beyonce's team. Most men wore suits as per the organizers advertisement but still some were allowed to join the party in sneakers and other casuals.
After the Ludacris performance, there was a thirty minutes break covered by another DJ from the other stage. When most went to the other stage after hearing Beyonce's songs, final preparations were under way to receive her. Exactly at nine thirty, all the lights went off and the real count-down began. "Are you ready?" it was Beyonce claiming undivided attention. "Yeah…!" the crowd roared in reply. With mike in hand, she gracefully walked down to the bottom of the stage. As she greeted the thousands cheering for several minutes, the colorful stage behind her unveiled. Everything on the stage looked perfect, starting from the lighting, unseen even in one of the Sheratons' parties, to the ladies who alone controlled the entire stage and music instruments.
As the music got louder, the crowd started to dance and sing along with Beyonce. She seemed to get into real emotions, as she reached every side of the stage, asking people to dance and have fun, even if every one was ready to with out an invitation. Of course, she looks amazing in almost all of her clothes, but the shiny black tendrils replacing the grass skirt to a high-necked Victorian-style top paired with sequined hot pants really showed why she is one of the top well dressed people in the world. She sang most of the songs from her second solo album B' Day to perfection. It was first released in 2006 on her birthday. There was also some performance from Cry in love, her first solo album. As she took some minutes, off stage to change, her dance crew had something extraordinary to show. No wonder why so dozens were needed to go along with her. Even after two hours of performance, Beyonce never seemed tired. She thanked all of the people who were there to see her and those who made the experience possible.
This 26 year old R&B star is Bello Embustero (Beautiful liar), as one of the songs she presented which was her duet with Shakira from "B'DAY Deluxe Edition, she told the crowd how happy she was and excited to be in Ethiopia. Beyonce added that the crowd is one of the best, "You have been one of the best audiences of my lifetime." All of her comments are a little bit highly stated, the beautiful star can convince any one. She was so in control that she even noticed the little pushing that was going on in the crowd and begged the crowd to respect one another and give space for the other. Even if it took months to have her in the millennium celebrations which she on her side was only ready to put the occasion in the list of her world tour she named, "the Beyonce experience", the crowd seems to agree that it was worth waiting for. "The Beyonce experience" world tour started in Moscow a week before the show in Addis and continues on to Romania, Turkey, India, Thailand, Indonesia and China.
When the amazing two hour show was to end, Beyonce even at the end had prepared something special to surprise the crowd. "I am sure you are gonna love the next song," she said "I want to say good bye with this special song." She didn't prepare one of her Grammy wins or billboard top singles; it was Teddy Afro's holiday hit single that she chose to share with the crowd; she even danced a little Eskesta.
After a few minutes break from Beyonce's two hour of excitement, the crowd went back to the buffet which was once again ready to satisfy any need. Amharic performance kept the party going on until three when finally the crowd started leaving the hall. After the show was over, roads around Bole were so crowded. There were reports of more than six car accidents out of which the deadliest one occurred near Desalgne hotel and claimed the life of an X5 driver that hit a white Benz after crashing into trees.