Yesterday afternoon, the population invaded the administrative block and workers' camp of the Kenmare Resources mining company in Topuito, Larde district, Nampula province. At least that's how the social upheaval in that part of the country was reported. Sources speak of legitimate motivations, while Kenmare speaks of political demonstrations. Meanwhile, it seems that a "provisional" agreement has already been reached...

Hundreds of people set fire to two police stations, one of which is in the final stages of being inaugurated, outside the camp of the Irish mining company. Prisoners were "released".

An aircraft from the city of Nampula carrying company staff and intending to land on the camp's runway was forced to take off before completing its landing, as evidenced by the images seen by the MZNews had access to.

At that moment, the population left "the offices" and headed for the runway. As soon as the aircraft reached the runway, it reversed direction and flew back to the city of Nampula. "The idea was to set fire to the aircraft"

The images in our possession show the population forcing a vehicle that was planning to enter the camp to turn back. The police watched the scenes with their arms crossed, literally.

The local secondary school was also set on fire. The residence of the local secretary was vandalized and his property set on fire.

Reports in the videos point out that the population is demanding social rights because only the company's workers "are well off".

The reasons for the upheaval in Larde

O MZNews contacted a source on the ground who attested to the 'legitimacy' of the violent demands. He said that the population is aggravated by the lack of fulfillment of promises by the Kenmare mining company.

According to the Focal Point of Civil Society Organizations in Larde, Marracuene A. Abacar, since 2017 the company has made no progress with social guarantees such as the construction of schools, hospitals, roads (one asphalted, another of beaten sand, and others to connect the communities, all lit), two bridges, a vehicle for the late King and Régulo Matapa.

He pointed out that the frustration is due, above all, to the usurpation of land and the delay in building the bridge over the River Larde.

According to the source, Kenmare promised to pay between 75,000 meticais (less than one hectare) and 100,000 meticais (more than one hectare) for each plot. "This means that each person could be paid for the number of fields they have."

The amount would be for "everyone to manage", including looking for new plots of land to cultivate in other latitudes.

From the survey of each owner's land area, the source said that the dimensions have changed.

"In the first GPS mapping, the dimensions of the areas were noted, but in the second, the GPS pointed to half of each owner's area," said the source, asking "where did the other area end up?"

Of the total number of people covered by the mapping, only 20% were eligible to receive the respective amounts. Worse still, when payments were made "for administrative and evidence purposes", people were paid for one plot of land, when they had more. There were also those who, in this process, received a thousand meticais or less.

From the demand for bridges, according to the source, the population found in the "revolution" the last way to put pressure on the mining company to go ahead with its promises. The company is said to have promised the population the construction of a bridge over the Larde River, which connects its facilities to the district headquarters. The infrastructure is estimated to cost seven million US dollars. It would serve as a way for the population to get to their new fields, some 50 kilometers away. A second possibility is to build another bridge over the same river, but this would more than double the distance to reach the fields.

O MZNews contacted Kenmare. The company said it had not been the victim of infrastructure vandalism in Topuito, as the population had not entered the camp. It claimed that it has always complied with its social responsibility activities. It refuted claims that the company's inertia in the face of the population's concerns had led to the riots. It justified the social tension with post-election political motivations, as seen throughout the country.

The mining company said that opportunistic citizens had occupied previously mapped and duly identified land. "They're the ones creating all the confusion, because they've realized that the land is going to be occupied by Kenmare."

In the videos we had access to, the population evoked the name of Venâncio Mondlane, who has been calling for demonstrations claiming to restore the electoral truth of last October 9.

Marracuene A. Abacar said that although there were no political motivations for the situation, yesterday in Topuito, supporters of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) identified with the cause and supported the demands.

Relaxation

After the vandalization of public infrastructure and private property, and people threatening to set fire to the Kenmare camp, part of the company met with around 100 people inside the camp and promised to start building the bridge over the River Larde on Monday, without the intervention of the Marracuene government. He stressed that it was a provisional agreement because there is more to be resolved.

Our source at Kenmare explained that the company is involved in all social projects as a partner of the government, as is the case with the bridge over the River Larde.

"We didn't promise to build the bridge because it's not our responsibility. This is a government plan and we are partners. And the conversation we had was to start talks on Monday to put an end to this situation," he clarified.

Marracuene said that the parties have signed a document and warned Kenmare that they will set fire to their infrastructure in the event of persecution and killings.

Kenmare said in a statement that it was closely monitoring the mine "and alert to any possible impact on our employees and our operations".