Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

The Mozambican government will not assume any responsibility for damages or loss of property incurred by individuals, business and other institutions as result of the riots that shook the Maputo and the surrounding neighbourhoods on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Angry mobs destroyed property worth millions of dollars in many Maputo neighbourhoods on Tuesday morning as rioting broke out against the increase in fares charged by the private minibus operators who provide much of the Mozambican capital's passenger transport.

The fuel price rise that led to the increase in minibus fares results form the soaring prices of oil in the international markert. Furthermore the owners of the minibuses had not increased their fares since 2005.

Initially, minibus owners were demanding the fare to be increased from the current 5.0 and 7.5 meticais to 18 or 19 meticais per journey. Eventualy they were forced to settle with 7.5 to 10 meticais for journeys within Maputo and Matola (at current exchange rates there are about 24 meticais to the US dollar).

Following the riots that plunged the capital into a total chaos, however, the government and transport operator reached an agreement to reverse the fare increase.

The statement of the government follows the concerns expressed by a number of citizens whose property and other goods and assets have been vandalized by the demonstrators.

"Nowhere in the world the State compensates for losses sustained by any person in respect of damages by riots", said Mozambican Minister of Transport and Communications, Antonio Mungwambe.

This means that individuals, shop owners, business and other institutions whose property was destroyed will have to cover their own expenses for the losses incurred.

Only a handful of businesses have already started to assess the losses sustained, and most are expected to embark on the same exercise later in the week when things settle down.

Demonstrators also attacked a secondary school which bears the name the country's President, Armando Guebuza, in the neighbourhood of Chamanculo and that was opened about seven months ago.

According to the representatives of "Olhar de Esperanca" (A Look of Hope), a project from the Mozambican Ministry of Education, that sponsored the construction that school the damages sustained amount to over one million dollars.

"Olhar de Esperanca" is a public-private partnership that aims at promoting the improvement of the learning-teaching process through the construction of schools and the acquirement of the basic means for students and teachers.

Among other business that have been severely hit by the riots include a huge warehouse of the milling company Sasseka, a recently inaugurated branch of ProCredit Bank in the neighbourhood of Jorge Dimitrov, few petrol stations, several hundred of private vehicles, and two police vehicles.

Meanwhile, three people have been killed, two adults and one adolescent, who were victims of stray bullets. This despite the claims of deputy Interior Minister, Jose Mandra, did not use live bullets to disperse the demonstrators.

Relatives of the deceased were on Wednesday demanding the authorities to pay for their funerals.

On the other hand, the number of injured have risen to 104, this according to Thursday's issue of the daily paper "Noticias".

To alleviate the current transportation crisis in Maputo, Mungwambe said the government will have to address urgently the problem.

To that end, that government is planning to increase its fleet from the current 40 to reach a number of 150 buses. The government is well aware that even this number will not meet the current demand.

"We are seriously addressing the issue of public transportation. We can't say when the problems will be resolved, but the situation will certainly improve", said the minister.

Mungwambe also said that the government is planning also to revamp the whole transportation system that could see dedicated roads for public transport, to speed up the traffic.