The Minister of Economy and Finance of Mozambique admitted yesterday in Maputo that the armed conflict in the province of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, will compel the Government to “redirect resources” in order to support “the war effort”.
“One of the problems we have is to reorient the few resources for the war effort”, said Adriano Maleiane, in statements on the sidelines of a meeting with the deputies of the Parliamentary Planning and Budget Committee (CPO).
Maleiane pointed out that the executive must “invent” to find a margin of funding for the Defense and Security Forces in a context of scarcity of means.
“The few resources that we are giving to the social areas are not enough and we have to invent, which is the term, more resources for war. In fact, this is very bad ”, stressed the Minister of Economy and Finance.
The war in Cabo Delgado, continued Adriano Maleiane, is causing damage to the country’s economy and to families.
“It is bad in all aspects [that Cabo Delgado is at war], there is no war that does the economy good,” said Adriano Maleiane.
The northernmost coastal province of Mozambique, which borders Tanzania, faces a humanitarian crisis with more than 1,000 dead and 250,000 internally displaced after three years of armed conflict between Mozambican and rebel forces, whose attacks have already been claimed by the group ‘ jihadist ‘Islamic State, but whose origin remains unclear.
