Tabulation of votes has finally begun in all 11 provinces and at national level in Maputo, Filipe Mandlate, spokesman for the National Elections Commission (CNE) said Wednesday afternoon. Most provinces started inputting results sheets into the computers five days late and there is no chance that they will complete their work by the end of Thursday, as required by law. Processing in two provinces, Gaza and Cabo Delgado, was held up by Renamo objections, but Mandlate said these had been resolved. In Gaza, Renamo demanded that press, observers and party delegates be invited to the start of data input and that all be given the list of polling stations and there registration book numbers. Read the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin, available through the link below, for the latest on the elections. You can also visit the website of the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa for more detailed information: http://www.eisa.org.za/WEP/mozambique.htm

The Country Director will report to the Concern Universal (CU) person responsible for the Southern Africa Region. The Country Director will continue to develop and implement its programme in Mozambique and will be responsible for Programme Officers, Finance Manager and all service staff. The post is based in Lichinga with regular travel to Maputo to continue to develop CU's programme with donors and to consider establishing a CU office there. The post will require regular travel also to Zambezia Province (Milange) and to Blantyre in Malawi. The work base may be reviewed depending to programme demands in the coming years. Closing date: 23 Dec 2004

Heavy rains and low turnout cast a shadow over Thursday's second day of Mozambican elections for a successor to President Joaquim Chissano as foreign observers complained they were denied full access to the polling process. National Electoral Commission head Arao Lithure took the unusual step of making a live address on state radio and television to urge Mozambicans to vote, saying they had a right to help determine their country's destiny.

"There are no legal restrictions or principles which justify impeding the access of national and foreign observers to the locations of vote counting at all levels," declared an independent legal opinion submitted to the National Election Commission (CNE) earlier this week. The CNE has repeatedly said that the law does not allow more openness, but this has been contested by observers and media. The Electoral Observatory, a coalition of the seven prominent national groups which are observing this election, commissioned the independent legal opinion. In a covering letter, it demanded that the CNE respond publicly to the alternative legal view. The Electoral Observatory said civil society must take action to promote more observer access to the final count to ensure a "clean" election. This is according to the most recent edition of the Mozambique Election Bulletin.

"We, members of civil society representing NGOs, Community Based Organisations, Women’s Organisations, Trade Unions, Youth Organisations, organisations of the disabled persons, faith based organisations, women’s organisations, church organisations, small scale farmers from different parts of Mozambique are gathered here in Beira during November 1-3, 2004 to better understand issues of economic justice and basic human rights.
Our understanding of economic justice is that it is based on the religious moral, and philosophical need for respect and promotion of basic economic, social, cultural and civic rights..."

Half way through campaigning for the national election on 1-2 December, the process has been largely calm, reports the Mozambique Political Process Bulletin. The two main parties, Frelimo and Renamo, have been present throughout the country. Of the smaller parties, Raul Domingos and his Party for Peace, Development and Democracy (PDD) have had an unexpectedly strong presence in the campaign.

On November 6 2004, local officials of Mozambique's former rebel movement Resistencia Nacional de Mozambique (Renamo), banned a film crew of the public television, TVM, from filming the Renamo election campaign in two northern towns, Mozambique Island and Nacala, despite the movement’s consistent complaints that TVM does not give it sufficient coverage. Both towns are regarded as Renamo strongholds.

A crowd of young Mozambicans gathered under the shade of a tree last week to discuss what they knew about HIV/AIDS, as part of a peer education programme underway in central Zambezia province. Some answered confidently but others were reticent, with the girls, especially, keeping their heads down when asked how HIV was transmitted.

For the well-being of today's families and for future generations, how important is investment in education and other forms of human capital? This report analyzes the potential for investments in education--by individual households, by government, and by donor agencies--to reduce poverty in postwar Mozambique. It provides an assessment of the existing stock of human capital and examines the association between human capital and both monetary and nonmonetary dimensions of household welfare. It also explores the factors that influence the decision to send children to school, and how long children remain in school.

The European Union (EU) on Tuesday said negotiations with Mozambique's electoral commission to open up the one remaining part of the counting process in upcoming general elections to observers were progressing well. While election monitors may be present at counting stations at the local level, they are excluded from the final provincial and national stages of the count. The final tabulation is seen as crucial, because it is at this stage that spoiled ballot papers are considered, and both provincial and national elections commissions make decisions about polling station results sheets.

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Open Society Justice Initiative (the Justice Initiative) are pleased to invite applications for the Human Rights Fellows Program for the 2005-2007 session. The Fellows Program is 20 months in duration and involves both academic study and practical experience in human rights/public interest advocacy. Up to six human rights lawyers and activists from Angola and Mozambique will be selected to participate. Candidates must be nominated by human rights NGOs based in Angola or Mozambique. Deadline: November 20, 2004.

In an unprecedented show of solidarity, 16 faith-based organisations in Mozambique have united to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic, coming up with a national action plan. Mohamad Yassine, coordinator of the World Conference of Religion for Peace (WCRP) in Mozambique has said that religious leaders could play a major role in tackling HIV/AIDS, as about 10 million of the country's 18 million people were members of an organised religion - from Christians and Muslims to those of the Bahai faith.

Mozambique's National Elections Commission (CNE) on Tuesday said a decision to exclude election observers from the final vote tallies would not cast doubt over December's poll results. The CNE announced on Monday that international observer missions would be excluded from the final provincial and national poll count, stating that the decision was "in line with the electoral laws". This has sparked concern that the move could compromise the legitimacy of the general elections.

More than half the number of Mozambicans interviewed in a recent poverty survey said they had been unable to meet household food needs in the last 12 months, and many did not have access to sufficient water. About 8,000 Mozambicans in 102 of the 146 rural and urban districts of Mozambique participated in the research conducted by a group of civil society organisations called G20, as part of its contribution to the "poverty observatory".

Political skirmishes in Mozambique between the ruling FRELIMO party and the main opposition, RENAMO, "are not endangering the electoral process yet," FRELIMO's presidential candidate, Armando Guebuza, told IRIN on Wednesday. "We are hoping for a peaceful election," said Guebuza, who is currently FRELIMO's secretary-general. Mozambique will hold its third democratic election on 1 and 2 December this year.

As the opening speaker of the World Leaders Forum, President Joaquim Alberto Chissano of the Republic of Mozambique discussed his government's efforts to end poverty and called on the international community to help end injustice. In his second address at Columbia University, Chissano, who is also chairman of the African Union, discussed the great strides his country has made toward eradicating poverty by "creating conditions for poverty reduction."

Save the Children, an international relief and development agency seeks a Nutrition Advisor to be responsible for the administration, field fiscal management and implementation of the program goals and the objectives in the USAID grant agreement related to food security.

Installing latrines in a school might not seem to be a significant step for protecting children, but in fact it is. Building latrines in schools will increase the likelihood that children will use the latrines instead of open fields that may be close to drinking water sources – thereby helping preserve drinking water quality. Maintaining clean drinking water is one of the fundamental approaches in UNICEF’s work for reducing child deaths.

When her husband died two months ago, Albertina Come did not only lose him. She also lost their house and belongings acquired through hard work over ten years of marriage. Unfortunately for Come, her late husband’s family blames her for his death. And as punishment, they said, she should not be entitled to any inheritance. “They locked me out of the house, and took all our belongings,’’ she told IPS.

Mozambique's third multi-party presidential and parliamentary elections will be Wednesday and Thursday 1 and 2 December. Formal campaigning only begins on 17 October, but both major parties have opened their elections offices and begun campaigning in earnest. Elections will be carried out in a manner very similar to previous elections. But there are two significant changes. After widespread complaints about Frelimo using government vehicles and facilities, there is now a ban on the use by a party of any government goods or property ("bens"). And polling station staff, police and journalists can now vote at any polling station; in past years they had been effectively disenfranchised because they were only allowed to vote at the polling station where they were on the register.