Lino Matope, 23, is lying on a mangy cotton mattress in a tiny shack made of corrugated iron sheets at the Feira market in Chimoio, capital of central Mozambique's Manica Province, receiving his fourth illegal injection of benzatinic penicillin. "The injection is giving me muscle cramps," he says, kicking his legs. "But I have to continue taking them to cure the gonorrhoea I picked up."

Is Mozambique an African success story? It has 7 percent a year growth rate and substantial foreign investment. Fifteen years after the war of destabilisation, the peace has held. Mozambique is the donors' model pupil, carefully following their prescriptions and receiving more than a billion dollars a year in aid. The number of bicycles has doubled and this is often cited as the symbol of development. In this book Joseph Hanlon challenges some key assumptions of both the donors and the government

Sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, people living with HIV in Mozambique are still experiencing frequent human rights abuses. "There are signs that many people have been the victims of violence, or even lost their lives, for having gone public about their HIV-positive status," said Alice Mabote, president of the Mozambican League of Human Rights.

When Mariana Uchandidhora's husband was killed in a traffic accident in South Africa a year ago, tradition required that she have sex with her deceased husband's brother in order to be purified. Uchandidhora, 36, refused, arguing that her brother-in-law was much younger than she was, but the family found an older man from outside the family to carry out the ritual, known as "khupita khufa". Two months later she discovered that she was both pregnant and HIV-positive.

It appears that the computer-produced register books (cadernos de recenseamento) were not completely accurate, and in many places voters names were left off. Most polling stations also had copies of the hand-written register made at the time of registration, and often people appeared in that register, and thus were able to vote. The Renamo candidate for mayor of Montepuez, Tomé Fernando, for example, was not in the computer-printed register but could vote because he was in the manual register.

“A massive presence” of people from outside all 43 municipalities who were brought in by the lorry-load in order to vote for Frelimo explains Renamo’s defeat, Renamo president Afonso Dhlakama told a press conference early Monday afternoon. This “flood” of outsiders was allowed to vote because all the people who were hired as polling station staff were members or sympathisers of Frelimo, he added.

People were still voting at midnight November 19, as the massive turnout totally overwhelmed the polling stations, forcing many to remain open well after the official 6 pm (1800) closing.

The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) is inviting Media houses to the largest gathering of the African Church who, together with the Civil Society, will meet in Maputo, Mozambique from 7-12 December, 2008 under the auspices of the AACC 9th General Assembly whose theme will be Africa, Step Forth in Faith.

Long queues of people waiting to vote in most municipalities have been reported by our correspondents. In general polling stations opened on time and have been well organised, with only minor problems. In Beira, where independent candidate Daviz Simango had warned of possible police intimidation, our correspondent reports that police were “nearly invisible”. There are long queues and voting is going smoothly.

Mozambique has seen political stability and economic recovery since the end of its devastating civil war, yet it remains one of the world's poorest countries (168th of the 177 nations on UNDP's 2007 human development index). Average life expectancy is 39 years. Less than half of adults can read and write, and the infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world.

National and foreign election observers have been given increased access in new observer regulations published last month. A wide range of formerly secret election commission documents are now public, and observers are now allowed to watch the previously secret summation process by election commissions. But the new regulations also impose new restrictions on observers.

A generally calm campaign for local elections on 19 November continues to be marred by incidents of violence and arrests, notably in Sofala, where 21 people are detained, and Tete provinces. In some places, both main parties seem to be encouraging youngsters (below voting age) to pull down posters and disrupt marches of the other party – and in a few case even to throw stones at members of other parties.

The Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IESE) will be holding its second conference, on the 22nd and 23rd of April 2009 in Maputo about "Dynamics of Poverty and Patterns of Economic Accumulation in Mozambique." IESE intends to contribute to challenge mainstream approaches to poverty and to develop the debate further by introducing new perspectives that are based upon the political economy analysis of poverty in relation with the patterns of economic and social accumulation and reproduction.

Mozambique's government will drive the development of four 'science parks' across the country to encourage scientists to find solutions for its social, health and infrastructural problems. António Leão, national director of Mozambique's Ministry of Science and Technology, says the initiative is aimed at taking science and technology to the people.

Reflecting on the fifth International Via Campesina Conference held in Maputo, Mozambique, on 19 October, John E. Peck examines the ongoing struggle around ‘biofuels’ and unpacks the extent to which global discourses on solutions climate change have been commandeered by multinational corporations. With a particular focus on Jatropha, the author explores the crop’s likely impact in Mozambique and the consequences for food sovereignty, land use, and contested resources, and argues that true progress towards sustainable agriculture will only be attained once governments cease to emphasise agro-fuel subsidies.

We are men and women of the earth, we are those who produce food for the world. We have the right to continue being peasants and family farmers, and to shoulder the responsibility of continuing to feed our peoples. We care for seeds, which are life, and for us the act of producing food is an act of love. Humanity depends on us, and we refuse to disappear.

The entire world is in crisis, a crisis with multiple dimensions. There is a food crisis, an energy crisis, a climate crisis and a financial crisis. The solutions put forth by Power – more free trade, more GMOs, etc. – purposefully ignore the fact that the crisis is a product of the capitalist system and of neoliberalism, and they will only worsen its impacts. To find real solutions, in this open letter argues we need to look toward Food Sovereignty.

Elisio Macamo - 2008-10-26

Reflecting on social spaces and politics within Mozambican cities and the legacy of the colonial period, Elisio Macamo calls for greater study of the role of urban environments in the development of local political cultures. Citing the example of protestant churches of various denominations in the creation of local responsibilities and identities, the author contrasts this process of self-determination with the ‘culture of dependency’ underpinned by the continual support of the development industry.

The international farmers movement La Via Campesina is holding its Vth International Conference in Maputo, Mozambique, from October 16 to 23, 2008. This congress will gather more than 500 men and women farmers (OMIT 's' in farmers) leaders from more than 70 countries, at a time when the food crisis is at the top of the global agenda. This event is starting with the Rural Youth Assembly on October 16, while the world is celebrating World Food Day.

African countries and donors share the belief that aid has the potential to contribute to economic growth, reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the way both donors and recipient countries are performing for delivery and use of aid undermine this potential. Some of the conditionalities imposed to aid recipient countries to access aid reduce the extent to which it can contribute to poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs by forcing governments to implement policies that lead to unemployment, bad quality of public services and reduced capacity by citizens to access basic services. Privatisations, cuts in government expenditures in public services such as education and health and adjustment of prices of essential goods like water, electricity and transport to reflect market prices result in unemployment, shortage and lack of motivation of civil servants as well as incapacity of poor people to access these essential services are some examples of such conditions.

On the other hand, recipient countries still face challenges in ensuring good governance, adequate institutional capacity and coordination of activities at different levels. Corruption practices without an appropriate mechanism of imputing responsibilities, lack of coordination across sectors and weak institutions and systems combined with the absence or weak donors’ coordination and harmonisation practices undermine the full potential of aid.