Good afternoon. The Malawian media was reporting last week that their government had secured a 99-year lease for a space at the port of Nacala, which it would develop into a terminal for imports and exports from the landlocked country. There was just one problem with the story: it wasn’t true. There have been discussions around granting a concession or lease to Malawi to develop a dry port, away from the actual port area, to help give customs clearance to goods, but nothing has been agreed, and in any case a 99-year lease (while common in general) is not on the table.
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Fernando Lima
The story appears to be the product of some malicious briefing from sources within ruling party Frelimo. Groups hostile to President Filipe Nyusi are taking advantage of his departure in five months’ time to plant stories damaging to him. The subject of the concession at Nacala has been hotly discussed in the Mozambican media recently, owing to concerns about supposedly giving away Mozambican territory to a foreign country — and worse, to Malawians, who in popular opinion are seen as an inferior people. It was therefore an easy topic to exploit.
