On Wednesday, April 16th, the
District Administrator of Lago, André Emanuel Luendo, in Niassa province in southern of Mozambique held a meeting with the
gold miners operating in Lupiliche to discuss solutions to the concerns raised
by local communities regarding the benefits of gold mining in that
administrative post.
Maria Mbeu, a resident of
Cobué, expressed frustration over the lack of direct benefits from the mining
operations in Lupiliche. She stated that it makes no sense for communities to
be drinking unsafe water, lacking access roads, and living without mobile phone
signal, among other issues, while the area is rich in gold and there are
companies and associations profiting from it. "There are companies mining
gold in Lupiliche, including Chinese ones, but they’re doing nothing. We don’t
even know where the money they pay goes! In Wikihi, there's not even a mobile
network antenna, they drink unsafe water, and there’s no road to speak
of," she lamented.
Maria Mbeu also spoke about
unemployment and the lack of development projects in that administrative post. She
pointed out that she has seen projects supporting populations in other areas,
but Cobué has been forgotten.
District Administrator André
Emanuel Luendo also expressed deep concern about the precarious conditions in
which the communities of Cobué live, despite the wealth being extracted daily.
He blamed this situation on the miners' lack of honesty and failure to fulfill
their obligations and promises to build public infrastructure to meet the
population's needs.
Finally, Luendo stated that if
the miners do not fulfill their promises and responsibilities by the end of
this year, the government will revoke their licenses and they will have to
leave Lupiliche.
The meeting once again highlighted the urgent need for a more effective response to the needs of the Cobué population. (Davide Muianga)
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