The Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Operators (FEMATRO) has suspended passenger transportation between Maputo and Durban, South Africa, due to insecurity on the route, the president of the organization told Lusa yesterday..

"We have suspended our activities" and are awaiting a meeting with South African operators, said Castigo Nhamane.

A South African passenger van bound for Durban was set on fire on Monday by unknown assailants who ordered the passengers to leave shortly after Maputo.

The incident comes after more than a dozen Mozambican vehicles have been set on fire in a similar way in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, since the beginning of the year.

Nhamane said that Mozambican carriers are taking passengers to the Ponta de Ouro border crossing without entering South Africa, and that South African carriers have also stopped entering Mozambique, leaving passengers at the crossing.

A meeting between the parties should take place in the next few days to coordinate transportation to the border crossing, he said.

FEMATRO's president said that the measure would last until the governments of the two countries found a "definitive solution" to the insecurity.

Nhamane repudiated the fire that occurred on Monday, which destroyed a South African van near Maputo, ruling out the possibility that it was caused by transporters.

The spokesman for the Maputo provincial police command, Juarce Martins, told Lusa that a man had been arrested in Maputo city on suspicion of involvement in the case.

Martins said that efforts were underway to capture more people involved in the case.