“Zimbabwe is a country with abundant natural resources, but for its development it needs to have unrestricted trade with other countries, but because of the sanctions it does not have the capacity to carry out the necessary commercial exchange,” Ambassador Machava pointed out in an interview with Prensa Latina.
Nor does it have the productive capacity for local development, which in turn has a negative impact on Mozambique in particular.
These two southern African countries share a 1,231-kilometer border that runs through three Mozambican provinces.
“Life in the border communities between before the sanctions was normal, healthy, peaceful, but after the unjust and arbitrary punitive measures, the situation became more complicated,” the diplomat explained.
It became more difficult to exchange between the populations, commercial and financial transactions disappeared, the promotion of production was hindered. “So we have a negative impact that does not contribute to the development of either nation,” Machava warned.
Commenting on the decision by the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) to declare October 25 as a Day against Sanctions, the Head of Mission said that it was a strategic agreement to draw the world’s attention to the negative effects of this hostile policy, which affects not only one country, but all the countries in the region.
He explained that the economic hardships of this hostility have caused three million Zimbabweans to migrate to neighboring countries in search of better living conditions, and that this massive migration is creating problems for the host countries, and the rest of the región.
He said that Cuba, likewise, has been suffering a policy of criminal blockade by the government of the United States for more than 60 years, which causes multiple damages to the people of the island and deprives them of being able to develop normally.
Machava described as excellent the relations between Mozambique and Cuba, which he described as “brotherly countries with historical bilateral ties”.
He added that his country has ties of friendship, solidarity and cooperation in several areas such as education, health, science, technology and culture. He pointed out that 130 Cuban doctors are providing care to Mozambicans, “a work of great humanism”, he said.
The ambassador affirmed that the two governments are working to boost ties and cooperation through an intergovernmental commission that has drawn up an action plan to follow up on the agreements established.
Machava said that “we need to move forward in other areas of cooperation. For example, Cuba can provide us with assistance for the improvement of boxing and other sports,” he said.
Mozambique will always stand by Cuba -he said- in its struggle for the elimination of the blockade; we have supported all the resolutions in the UN General Assembly against that hostile and senseless policy “and we will continue to do so”, the ambassador concluded.
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