Machel perished, together with 34 others who included some of his closest aides and advisors, when the presidential plane crashed in South Africa on October 19th 1986.

He was instrumental in ending colonialism in many southern African countries, including Zimbabwe and South Africa.

His government offered material and logistical support to freedom fighters in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and apartheid South Africa.

The cause of the crash has not been officially determined, although circumstantial evidence points to a false navigational beacon placed by the former apartheid regime in South Africa to draw the plane off course.

Source African Press Agency

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

The agency quotes Paulino at a ceremony where he signed a memorandum of understanding between his office and the Mozambican Tax Authority, designed to strengthen coordination in the fight against crime.

According to the agency, proof that Mozambique is used as a corridor for drugs to reach other countries is not hard to find. Paulino gave recent examples of a truck from Malawi, heading for Zimbabwe, which overturned on the Samora Machel Bridge over the Zambezi, in the western Mozambican city of Tete.

The cargo it was transporting, initially declared as tobacco at the Calomwe border post, was scattered across the bridge. When it was collected, it was found that, in addition to sacks of tobacco, the cargo also contained almost a ton (947 kilos, to be precise) of cannabis.

“Imagine how many trucks that did not fall over have taken the same route – and it is entirely reasonable to ask ourselves whether all the cargo they were carrying was legitimate,” Paulino said.

Paulino said he was disturbed to read of Mozambicans caught in neighboring countries with large sums of money on their person. The latest such case is that of businessman Momed Khalid Ayoob, caught at Matsapa International Airport in Swaziland, in possession about $2.6 million in banknotes.

Paulino said the fact that these people were not intercepted at the Mozambican border indicated “a pact of silence resulting from bribes paid to agents of our border control services”.

Such situations, he insisted, demanded “that we change our attitude and remove from our ranks behavior that brings no credit to ourselves and our institutions”.

Mozambique has several transit corridors serving as gateway routes for hinterland countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Tanzania.

Source African Press Agency

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

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He made the comments at State House, Entebbe on Friday night with outgoing Algeria’s Ambassador to Uganda, Mr. Aziria Abdelkader during his farewell courtesy call on the President to bid him farewell.

The President said that Algeria has trained a number of prominent personalities in the history of Africa, among whom is former South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela, former Mozambique President Samora Machel, among others.

He commended Algeria for the support to Uganda in its operations in Somalia, their continued support towards the education sector through their scholarship scheme, among others.

The Ambassador expressed Algeria’s pride in associating with Uganda because of President Museveni’s good governance, continued struggle against HIV/AIDS, his commitment to end corruption and respect for human rights and said these are the same values that Algeria shares.

He expressed the need for Uganda and Algeria to establish a strong business partnership to strength the economic relationship between the two countries.

Source African Press Agency

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