Mozambique Economy

The Mozambique government imposed large increases in food prices, and a government newspaper said the increases were made necessary by a guerrilla war ravaging the economy. Rice went from 9 cents to 60 cents a kilogram (2.2 pounds), corn flour from 9 to 32 cents, sugar from 11 to 59 cents. To partially offset the increases, the government raised the minimum wage for industrial workers from $17 a month to $29, except in factories losing money.

Reminiscences of the old days, from a table in an aging restaurant on the beachfront five miles out of town: "My father used to cart water out here in an old Chevy," says Emmanuel Petrakakis, who today manages the Costa do Sol. It's 50 years since his parents came from Greece and made famous their proprietary way of grilling the giant prawns that fishermen scoop up along the shore. "We didn't have water then. . . ."

The Central Committee of the ruling Frelimo Party has endorsed President Joaquim Chissano's recommendation to abandon the country's one-party socialist state in favor of a multi-party system and a market economy. Frelimo has ruled since independence from Portugal in 1975, and endorsed the measure in an apparent bid to rectify a rapidly deteriorating centralized economy and end a bloody civil war with right-wing rebels of the foreign-sponsored Renamo movement.

The Central Committee of the ruling Frelimo Party has endorsed President Joaquim Chissano's recommendation to abandon the country's one-party socialist state in favor of a multi-party system and a market economy. Frelimo has ruled since independence from Portugal in 1975, and endorsed the measure in an apparent bid to rectify a rapidly deteriorating centralized economy and end a bloody civil war with right-wing rebels of the foreign-sponsored Renamo movement.

The busiest store in all of Mozambique, Logia Franca, tempts shoppers with everything from whiskies and chocolates to televisions and sofas, luxuries that can be had for a small bundle of precious foreign currency. Yet Mozambicans lucky enough to collect a few U.S. dollars these days do not treat themselves to Sony radios or Portuguese wine.

Mozambique's guerrilla war will top the agenda when President Joaquim Chissano meets President Bush in Washington next Tuesday. "A review of the process toward achieving peace in Mozambique will be at the top of our list," Melissa Wells, the U.S. ambassador in Maputo, said. The visit, Chissano's first to the Bush White House, comes at a crucial time for the African nation. In addition to the 14-year-old civil war, Chissano faces a wave of strikes by workers dissatisfied with a U.S.

Reminiscences of the old days, from a table in an aging restaurant on the beachfront five miles out of town: "My father used to cart water out here in an old Chevy," says Emmanuel Petrakakis, who today manages the Costa do Sol. It's 50 years since his parents came from Greece and made famous their proprietary way of grilling the giant prawns that fishermen scoop up along the shore. "We didn't have water then. . . ."

In a massive sabotage operation that began last April, right-wing Mozambican rebels have destroyed 674 pylons on a power transmission line linking the Cahora Bassa Dam in northern Mozambique to South Africa. The figure was given by Ian McRae, director of South Africa's state-run power company and chairman of a three-nation committee charged with repairing the power line.

South African President Pieter W. Botha traveled into black Africa on Monday to promise that his government will not support the right-wing guerrillas whose attacks have devastated Mozambique's economy. His talks with Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano were held beside the Zambezi River at the mighty Cahora Bassa Dam--a white elephant since rebels whom Botha's government is widely accused of backing damaged the power lines that took its electricity to South Africa.

South African President Pieter W. Botha travels today to war-ravaged Mozambique, where South Africa is regarded as both the hostile backer of right-wing guerrillas and an economic powerhouse whose cooperation is badly needed by its poorer neighbor. Botha and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano will hold a day of talks at Songo near the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric dam--a stalled project to harness the mighty Zambezi River that symbolizes the complex relationship between their two states.

Mozambique's guerrilla war will top the agenda when President Joaquim Chissano meets President Bush in Washington next Tuesday. "A review of the process toward achieving peace in Mozambique will be at the top of our list," Melissa Wells, the U.S. ambassador in Maputo, said. The visit, Chissano's first to the Bush White House, comes at a crucial time for the African nation. In addition to the 14-year-old civil war, Chissano faces a wave of strikes by workers dissatisfied with a U.S.

The Mozambique government imposed large increases in food prices, and a government newspaper said the increases were made necessary by a guerrilla war ravaging the economy. Rice went from 9 cents to 60 cents a kilogram (2.2 pounds), corn flour from 9 to 32 cents, sugar from 11 to 59 cents. To partially offset the increases, the government raised the minimum wage for industrial workers from $17 a month to $29, except in factories losing money.

The busiest store in all of Mozambique, Logia Franca, tempts shoppers with everything from whiskies and chocolates to televisions and sofas, luxuries that can be had for a small bundle of precious foreign currency. Yet Mozambicans lucky enough to collect a few U.S. dollars these days do not treat themselves to Sony radios or Portuguese wine.

President Samora M. Machel, one of the heroes of Africa's struggle for independence and for its own voice in world affairs, was buried Tuesday amid the praise of Mozambique's neighbors and the tears of its grieving people. Marcelino dos Santos, a top leader of the ruling Frelimo party, eulogized Machel as a "tireless fighter" who fell "in the struggle against apartheid."

The ancient crane lurched and smoke billowed from its steam engine as another ton of Zimbabwean tobacco was loaded at the port of Beira, Mozambique. The crane, first set in operation on the Beira docks in 1907, is a symbol of both the problems and achievements of the nine neighbors of South Africa who are resisting apartheid destabilization. Mozambicans still have to use the 80-year old crane primarily because of South Africa's war against them, which has cost this underdeveloped economy $6.