Some Mozambican political analysts believe that the lack of trust between the security and intelligence-sharing agencies of South Africa and Mozambique could undermine the historical relations between the two countries.

This reading comes after the Mozambican Attorney General (PGR), Beatriz Buchili, expressed her displeasure in Parliament on Thursday (25) that the requests for extradition of the alleged masterminds of the kidnappings, made to the South African authorities, had not been answered, signaling an apparent cooling of relations between Maputo and Pretoria.

Among the alleged masterminds is Esmael Nagy, a Mozambican national who is wanted for leading a group that carries out kidnappings in the country and whose extradition was requested some time ago.

For political analyst Borges Namirre, the dispute over jurisdiction between the two countries' law enforcement and information-sharing agencies is making their extradition to Mozambique difficult.

Cited by VOANhamire explains that in recent times, South Africa has complained of a certain impunity for robberies and other types of crime that take place on South African territory, "and when the criminals are wanted, they flee to Mozambique, and practically nothing happens to them".

In turn, for Egidio Plácido, in Mozambique "there is a promiscuity between justice and politics because powerful people often end up escaping from major legal proceedings, which doesn't normally happen in South Africa, where former President Jacob Zuma was brought to the dock, and I don't know if that can ever happen in Mozambique".

For political analyst Luis Nhachote, relations between Mozambique and South Africa are not good because the South African justice system extradited Manuel Chang to the states, after the battle that Mozambique fought.

"Relations between the two countries may be cooling, let's see what happens after the elections in South Africa; you'll notice, for example, that the secretary-general of Frelimo was in South Africa recently for meetings with the ANC, which is very rare for parties that have historical relations," Nhachote said.

Meanwhile, for political analyst Francisco Matsinhe, Mozambique and South Africa have very good relations and "testimony to this is the fact that the South African President has asked Parliament to extend the period of stay of his country's troops in Cabo Delgado until next December, to help fight terrorism in Cabo Delgado, when many countries are withdrawing their forces as part of the SADC Military Mission".

In her speech, the PGR said that "the biggest challenges in the fight are related to the fact that a large part of the preparation for the execution of the crime and the ransom payments take place outside the country, especially in the Republic of South Africa, where some of the principals are also to be found".