The crisis in Zimbabwe is having a serious effect on the economy of its neighbour Mozambique, with debts unpaid, a collapse in trade and increased smuggling, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza was quoted as saying in local press Saturday.
In his first public comments on the situation in Zimbabwe, Guebuza warned that the Beira corridor rail link through Mozambique linking landlocked Zimbabwe to the sea was endangered. Jobs had been lost in companies operating the railway and the port of Beira, the Noticias daily quoted the president as telling journalists who accompanied him to a regional summit on Zimbabwe in Tanzania.
In addition, Harare was no longer paying on time for the electricity supplies from Mozambique's Cahora Bassa dam, while the growth in smuggling had deprived Maputo of customs revenue. Guebuza hailed the results of the Dar es Salaam summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), saying he was sure that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would begin talks with the opposition.
The SADC appointed South African President Thabo Mbeki to act as a mediator but also called for the lifting of international sanctions against Zimbabwe. Opposition within Zimbabwe has soared in recent months with inflation now the highest in the world at 1,730 percent and forecast by the International Monetary Fund to climb up to 4,000 percent by year end.