Four border posts between Mozambique and Tanzania, in the province of Cabo Delgado, may be upgraded by the end of the year according to a spokesman for the National Migration Service (SENAMI). For this purpose, the Government will provide 40 million meticals, according to Ivo Sampanha, who was speaking about the launching of a public tender for the works.

"There is already a budget and now the contracting process is underway," in the public tender phase, he said.

The modernization work will cover the Nametil crossing points, in Palma district, the Nangade district crossing point, and also the Ngapa and Negomano crossing points, in Mueda district.

The porousness of the border with Tanzania is pointed out by the authorities and in several international reports as one of the factors facilitating the entry of rebels participating in the armed insurgency that has been raging in Cabo Delgado for four and a half years.

This investment is part of the plan to rebuild the province of Cabo Delgado, after the destruction caused by the armed insurgency.

Out of a total of nine crossing points that Cabo Delgado province has with Tanzania, only four are in operation.

The other five were closed because of restrictions on movement created to curb the spread of covid-19 over the past two years, and remain so because of rebel attacks.

Instead of migration agents, in these closed posts are Defense and Security Forces (FDS), but "Senami is watching the return of the population and therefore may reopen them" if justified, he concluded.