Portugal loses face in the Cabo Delgado massacres. Speaking to PLATAFORMA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summarizes the inability to lead, in an unavoidable cause: life. It maintains “close contacts with the Mozambican authorities, with its European partners and representatives of the United Nations”. Cabo Delgado is like Timor. And there … it was too long. Until the Media and civil society saw the Santa Cruz massacre. We must take up the debate, force the European Union and the UN to act. Children hidden in the bush; families that bury bodies without heads, Portuguese who live there … and the History of Portugal; require much more.
Listen to the Bishop of Pemba, D. Luíz Fernando Lisboa, in an interview with PLATAFORMA: “They burn houses, they kill people, they cut heads”. Two and a half years after the massacre, an end is urgently needed. In Timor it was oil – in Cabo Delgado natural gas – but also ethnic conflicts, and Islamic threats – used by Kissinger to give the green light to the Indonesian invasion – and a panoply of economic and geo-strategic interests coming from everywhere.
“The problem is not just ours”, warns D. Luíz, who to suffer in the theater of war asks for international help. After all, after 1,100 dead and 200,000 displaced, what is the use of “monitoring the situation”?
Portugal did well in Timor – but late. Now, open your eyes earlier. Brazil has investments in Cabo Delgado; and Angola knows that “the instability in Cabo Delgado is the instability in the region”, as summarized by the PLATFORM Adriano Nuvunga, who points the finger at Portugal and Guterres, UN secretary general – and Portuguese.
“The problem is not just ours”, warns D. Luíz, who suffering in the theatre of war asks for international help. After all, after 1,100 dead and 200,000 displaced, what is the use of “monitoring the situation”? The real world is a stepmother. So it was in Rwanda, in the Balkans; that’s how it is in Syria … and with the bastards facing death in the Mediterranean – swimming, if they could.
Portugal does not have the strength to change the world; but there is enough humanism to be indignant, speak up, give the air of your identity. Especially in a world that, while not already yours – and thankfully – belongs to its history, its soul, and its strategic interest. Portugal loses face. António Costa knows how to shout at Brussels when he lacks money to fight the pandemic; it’s time to open your mouth against lethargy. Cabo Delgado needs help – not “contacts” and “follow-up”.
*Managing Director of Plataforma
