Civil war created Mozambique's first orphan crisis. A decade on, the country is threatened by a new emergency which is much more devastating and much harder to solve. In 16-years of civil war, 200,000 children were torn from their homes. After the signing of the 1992 General Peace Accord, most of them were reunited with their families or foster parents. Today, HIV/AIDS has already left an estimated 418,000 children orphaned, according to UNAIDS figures.

Armed men of Mozambique's former rebel movement Renamo are accused by local residents of creating a climate of insecurity in the district of Maringue, in the central province of Sofala, according to Maringue administrator Augusto Matique, cited in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily paper "Noticias".

The purpose of the position is to provide strategic leadership and technical support in human resources management (HRM) of World Vision Mozambique (WV-Moz), and to strengthen the management of the human resources services and functions of the office, including the recruitment, hiring, salary administration, and benefits for all expatriate and senior national staff.

The post involves providing technical policy support and guidance, working within national, regional, global and external policy frameworks. Central to the role is the development and implementation of current and future HIV/AIDS work in Mozambique at both a strategic and operational level.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over a bizarre incident in which dozens of chickens were delivered to the independent weekly MediaFax after a column about the investigation into the murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso. The column referred to allegations against the president's son Nymphine Chissano, which were made before the magistrate investigating the Cardoso murder. During the proceedings, a prison informant called Nymphine Chissano the "son of the rooster."

A boycott by Mozambique's opposition Renamo party of planned celebrations last Friday to mark a decade of peace has been described as "regrettable" by ruling Frelimo.

The chairman of Mozambique's Cashew Industry Association, Kekobad Patel, told AIM on Tuesday that the World Bank ought to support the Mozambican government in attempts to rescue the cashew processing industry.

After more than a year of deadlock which had put at risk national and local elections, revisions to the election laws were agreed on 20 September at a special session of parliament. The deadlock was broken after the personal intervention of Renamo head Afonso Dhlakama. This clears the way for local elections due in mid-2003.

The assassinations of journalist Carlos Cardoso on 22 November 2000, of head of banking supervision Antonio Siba-Siba Macuacua on 11 August 2001, and musician Pedro Langa on 20 November 2001 are all linked, according to a report in the Sunday newspaper Domingo on 29 September.

The government of Mozambique will receive WWF's Gift to the Earth Award for its decisions to create the Quirimbas and Bazaruto National Parks.

The privatisation process has not improved the situation of the poor in most countries, with the process being marred by corruption, increased prices, and decreased accessibility to basic social services for the poor. A report by Bread for the World on the practical experiences of civil society organisations of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) also found that the debt relief as agreed in the Highly Indebted Poor Country initiative is insufficient in the wake of the financial requirements of the PRSPs.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano has reiterated that the Zimbabwean farmers now working in central Mozambique are investors, not refugees.

Mozambique's maternal mortality rate stands at an estimated 1,500 out of 100,000 live births, one of the highest rates in the world. Myths, lack of education and trained medical staff, poorly equipped health facilities with no maternity wards, unreliable or no communication and transport, make giving birth a high-risk event.

Required to manage projects, policy and personnel on a community development programme and health projects.

Mozambique's two main political parties have been unable to agree on changes to electoral laws ahead of legislative elections due next year. For over two years a parliamentary ad-hoc commission has worked on the laws, but has been unable to achieve consensus.

In some parts of Africa, traditional healers are the first available person a sick person turns to when facing a health emergency. These healers are often a central component of the primary health care system. In Swaziland, for example, 85 percent of people with HIV/AIDS consult a traditional healer at some time during their sickness. One response to the HIV/AIDS induced African health crisis is that traditional healers are increasingly asserting their role in society and demanding recognition and incorporation into primary health care networks being established on the continent.

One of the six men accused of murdering Mozambique's best known journalist, Carlos Cardoso, has escaped from Maputo's top security jail. A police spokesman confirmed on Monday to Cardoso's widow, Nina Berg, that the suspect, Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior (better known by his underworld nickname of Anibalzinho), had escaped from the prison at about 23.00 on Sunday night. No further details of the escape are yet available.

This paper is a case study into the impact of an export liberalization programme on cashew farmers in Mozambique. The authors argue that opponents of the reform felt that the policy did little to benefit poor cashew farmers while bankrupting factories in urban areas. It presents an analysis into the distributional and efficiency consequences of the liberalization program, and concludes that after 10 years, there was little to show for the reform.

The UN children's agency UNICEF and the Mozambican government are set to sign a US $86 million cooperation agreement aimed at fundamentally improving the living conditions and prospects of children in the country, UNICEF said in a statement released on Monday.

A national Mozambican NGO recently formed a partnership with an international NGO to establish a HIV/AIDS capacity building programme for Mozambican NGOs and CBOs. The aim of the programme is to contribute to the expansion and strengthening of the national response to HIV/AIDS in Mozambique, with a specific focus on support to community based HIV/AIDS prevention and care initiatives initially in Manica, Sofala and Tete provinces.