"We
are here to establish a partnership," Dr. Pascoal
Mocumbi, the Prime Minister of Mozambique, was saying.
He was explaining why he is attending the World Economic
Forum and when he said "we," he meant,
of course, his country. A decade or so ago, it was
ranked as one of the poorest nations on earth. Since
then, however, a devastating civil war has ended,
and economic reform been successfully introduced.
Mozambique may still be poor, but its prospects have
improved mightily. So, as Dr. Mocumbi was also saying, "We
are not here for charity. We are here to appeal
for solidarity."
Mozambique
gained its independence from Portugal in 1976, and
as a member of Africa's revolutionary generation, Dr.
Mocumbi helped bring it about. His title of doctor,
meanwhile, is not an honorific. Dr. Mocumbi alternated
his early career between political activities for Frelimo,
the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, and attendance
at medical schools in France and Switzerland where
he specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. He was
for a while Mozambique's Minister of Health, and later
its Minister of Foreign Affairs, and since 1994 he
has been Prime Minister. But he would still be happy,
he said, to deliver a baby.
"Africans know their own situation," Dr.
Mocumbi said. "We are interested in sharing
our views, our plans in the present global
condition. We welcome the opportunity to explore
different sensibilities--government, media,
business--specifically to coordinate action
against poverty."
The civil war between Frelimo and Renamo,
the Mozambique National Resistance, ended in
1992 with a peace treaty in Rome. Mozambique,
almost twice the size of California, borders
South Africa, and Renamo was largely a creation
of Southern Rhodesia and the then apartheid
government of South Africa. When apartheid
collapsed, so did South African support for
Renamo. Renamo politicians now hold seats in
the National Assembly, but as Dr. Mocumbi said,
the battleground is much different.
"The animosity between Mozambicans is
no longer there," he said. "Apartheid
is no longer the challenge. Destabilization
was necessary to preserve the apartheid regime.
I can't see any reason why Mozambicans will
ever fight one another again. We have a constitution.
We have freedom. The leader of Renamo--if he
misbehaves, our leader, President Chissano,
can talk to him. There is no discrimination
based on ideology. Today we have learned Mozambicans
can live together, and our common enemy is
poverty."
And that, of
course, is a principal reason why Dr. Mocumbi,
a friendly and earnest man,
is attending the World Economic Forum. "We
are not here for charity," he said again. "We
can give and we can receive, but the most important
thing we can receive is knowledge--management,
technology. The flow of money is important,
but for that we need to create an environment.
If we can do that here, it will be a very good
achievement."
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