The lawless sea

Good afternoon. It is a dangerous time to be on the water: a cargo ship sailing from Mozambique has just been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. This is one of several pirate attacks this year, which together with the Houthi uprising in Yemen is making the east coast of Africa a dangerous place for sailors. The actual impact on Mozambique should be limited, being confined to the shipping lines, their insurers and the customers for exports who will have to pay more. 

The latest from Zitamar News:

Zitamar explains: Mozambique’s pigeon pea scandal

What are pigeon peas, why is their export to India being blocked, and why does it matter?

Zitamar NewsZitamar News

Insurgents loot Quissanga town to supply Macomia base

Insurgents set sail from Quissanga with looted food, goods — and even a tractor and ambulance

Zitamar NewsTom Gould

From the Zitamar Live Blog:

Zitamar Mozambique Live Blog

Tropical Storm Filipo caused widespread damage in Inhambane province yesterday, though by 6pm local time no deaths had been recorded as a result of the storm, according to the national disaster management institute INGD. 510 houses had been damaged, 12 destroyed, and two flooded. 30 classrooms had been destroyed. A total of 577 families, or 2,780 people, had been affected by the storm, INGD said. The city of Maputo and surroundings saw widespread flooding. Zitamar is aware of at least one person who died after their car went into the flooded ditch around the Toyota roundabout in Maputo. All flights of state-owned airline LAM were cancelled on Wednesday morning. LAM said the flights would probably take place in the afternoon.

Telegram

Closer to Mozambique, there was an alarming lack of security seen earlier this week when a flotilla of insurgent boats sailed out from the coastal town of Quissanga north to Macomia district, loaded with loot (including, notably, an ambulance supposed to serve the island of Ibo nearby) and untroubled by the Mozambican navy boats in the area.