Good evening, or good morning, and welcome back to Zitamar News in 2025. We hope you have started the year on a peaceful and optimistic note.

Normal service will resume tomorrow (or at this point, later today), with our leader articles addressing the biggest topics of the day. For the first day back, though, we wanted to briefly run down the biggest developments over the holiday break — and let you know about a special offer for the month of January.

For the rest of this month, everyone gets an upgrade. All free subscribers will receive the whole leader, and the list of headlines — with links — that normally goes to our subscribers on the Zitamar News tier.

Those who are paying for the Zitamar News tier, meanwhile, will get the full newsletter that normally only goes to those on the Pro tier. And those already on the Pro tier? OK, not everybody gets an upgrade. But watch this space for more premium content to come this year.

And there’s more good news. Cabo Ligado, our project with ACLED and Mediafax to monitor the conflict in Cabo Delgado, is fully funded again, as of the start of this month — so our regular reporting on the conflict there will move back out from behind the paywall, as of now. See below for our latest article recapping the last fortnight in the conflict.

For the rest, Zitamar remains your essential guide through the presidential inauguration — or inaugurations — and the appointment of the government which will follow.

Mozambique has enjoyed a relatively peaceful start to the year, until Sunday's bombshell announcement that Venâncio Mondlane plans to return to Mozambique on 9 January, apparently due to fly in from Doha with Qatar Airways at 08:05 local time.

The post-election turmoil has already taken a heavy price on Mozambique. The election observer platform Decide put the death toll by the end of last year at 278. And 4,201 had been detained, according to Decide.

Some of them, however, may have escaped in the twin prison break in Maputo, the biggest incident that happened over the holiday period. We are aiming to publish a deep dive into what happened with the prison breaks and the immediate aftermath, in due course. It’s a shocking story, with many elements which remain unclear, but with a lot to say about the current sorry state of Mozambique.

May 2025 bring a fresh start!

The latest from Zitamar News:

SADC supports “interventions” to protect trade and energy amid unrest in Mozambique

Mozambique’s neighbours are considering taking concrete measures to protect regional trade routes, humanitarian corridors, and energy supplies, given post-election instability

Zitamar NewsTom Bowker

Insurgent and post-election violence shake Cabo Delgado over festive period

Violence and unrest continued in Cabo Delgado Province throughout December and into early 2025, due to the ongoing insurgency and post-election conflict

Zitamar NewsTom Gould

From the Zitamar Live Blog:

Zitamar Mozambique Live Blog

The Constitutional Council has confirmed 15 January as the day Mozambique’s new president will be inaugurated. Sign up for Zitamar’s daily briefing email here Follow Zitamar on our Telegram Channel, on BlueSky, Twitter / X, Facebook, and Linkedin ...to keep abreast of all the latest developments in #Mozambique

Telegram

Agenda:

• Tomorrow: Council of Ministers’ weekly meeting
• Thursday: Venâncio Mondlane due to land at 08.05 local time at Mavalane International Airport in Maputo

Also in the news:

• Venâncio Mondlane promises to arrive in Mozambique on Thursday (VOA, Lusa)
• Nyusi rejects South African mediation in post-election crisis (África Monitor)
• Nyusi may dismiss government this week (MzNews)
• Mondlane and Podemos split over parliamentary investiture (Lusa, O País, VOA, Lusa)
• Renamo makes demands, as military wing vows to oust Ossufo Momade (África Monitor, VOA, O País, DW)
• More than 40% of police infrastructure destroyed in demonstrations (Lusa, VOA)
• Five-year compulsory military service begins (RFI, AIM)

Venâncio Mondlane promises to arrive in Mozambique on Thursday (VOA, Lusa)

Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane yesterday promised to return to Mozambique this Thursday, landing at 08.05 local time at Mavalane International Airport in Maputo. Speaking in a live broadcast on his official Facebook page, Mondlane invited all Mozambicans to join his reception at the airport, including justice bodies such as the Constitutional Council. Mondlane said he had no fears about what might happen to him after his return.

Zitamar understands Mondlane’s return may be precipitated by a compromise agreement being approached — though it is still some way from being agreed. The official president-elect Daniel Chapo is keen to talk with Mondlane, and there would be support from the international community, but Chapo has little authority until he is sworn in as president of the country. Mondlane meanwhile has promised that he, not Chapo, will be sworn in on 15 January. The country waits with bated breath to see what develops over the next nine days.