Mozambique on Wednesday held local government elections in a poll seen as a critical test of strength for the ruling Frelimo party ahead of next year`s presidential vote.

`The turnout has been amazingly high in most places. Frelimo looks set to win the majority of the 43 municipalities,` said Joseph Hanlon, editor of the Maputo-based Political Process Bulletin.

MAPUTO, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - The third and final phase of a promising malarial vaccine, RTS,S/AS02D, will start in mid-2008, Mozambican research centre CISM announced on Friday.

'The results of the second phase of vaccine trials, which have just come to an end, showed its capacity to reduce new infections in children by 65 percent,' said CISM researcher Pedro Aide.

'In addition, we hope that the tests run from 2008 to 2011 confirm the efficacy of the vaccine and prove the non-toxicity of the product.'

MAPUTO, Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) - Africa's biggest ethanol production project, valued at 510 million dollars (359 million euros) will be developed in Mozambique from next year, Agriculture Minister Erasmo Muhate said on Friday.

'Under the project, among other things, more than 30,000 hectares of sugar cane will be produced as well as a factory for the production of ethanol from the sugar cane,' said the minister, who did not give details of the quantity of ethanol to be produced annually.

MAPUTO, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique will export more than 100,000 crocodiles to neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe over the next four months, a local official said on Thursday.

'Fishermen in the valley of River Zambezi in central Tete Province are set to collect crocodile eggs in coordination with South Africa breeders,' Manuel Santos, a provincial government official, told AFP.

'Crocodiles born following artificial incubation will be exported to South Africa and Zimbabwe,' he added.

MAPUTO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Trafficking of Mozambican children across to neighbouring countries, mostly South Africa, has risen tenfold in the last two years, children's rights groups said at a meeting in Maputo on Monday.

Mozambican non-governmental organisations said cases of child trafficking had increased from about 100 in 2005 to more than 1,000 this year.

'The phenomenon of trafficking Mozambican children to neighbouring countries, especially South Africa, is reaching alarming proportions,' the NGOs said in a joint press release.

MAPUTO, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique is translating its new labour law from Portuguese into Chinese for the benefit of firms from the Asian nation in the southern African country, an advisor in the labour ministry said on Monday.

'The new labour law will come into operation at the end of this month and because we have many Chinese enterprises and workers in our country who do not necessarily understand Portuguese; we consider it useful to translate this important law into their Chinese language,' Jafar Buana told AFP.

MAPUTO, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - Dozens of families were evacuated Saturday after an arms depot exploded at Inhamizua, near Mozambique's second city Beira, damaging houses but not causing any casualties, the military said.

The blast was caused by farmers burning stubble around the depot, defence ministry spokesman Joaquim Mataruca said.

'There were no injured or dead. But there was quite a lot of damage to homes nearby,' he said.

MAPUTO, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - The governments of Mozambique and its western neighbour Zimbabwe signed an agreement on Wednesday which will scrap the need for their citizens to obtain visas to travel across their common border.

Their respective interior ministers said the deal was testimony to the good relations between two of Africa's poorest countries which have been long-time allies.

'This agreement will simplify the procedures for entry and help the citizens of the two countries,' said Mozambique's Interior Minister Jose Pacheco.

HARARE, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Zimbabwe will experience more power cuts after Mozambique reduced supplies over unpaid debt, a state daily reported Saturday.

'Mozambique has reduced electricity supplies to Zimbabwe from 300 megawatts to 195 megawatts over a staggering debt of 35 million US dollars ... ' The Herald newspaper reported.

Zimbabwe imports 40 percent of its power needs: 100 megawatts a month from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 300 megawatts from Mozambique and up to 450 and 300 megawatts from South Africa and Zambia respectively.

MAPUTO, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - A Mozambique judge on Friday sentenced three men to 24 years jail for the torture and murder of a Brazilian priest and a Portuguese nun last November.

Two other missionaries were also injured in the armed robbery on the Roman Catholic mission of Fonte Boa in the northern Tete province of the southeast African country.

The trial of two other men continues.

MAPUTO, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - A group of 55 Ethiopian illegal immigrants have been detained in Mozambique after they were found living off wild animals and shrubs deep in a forest in central Zambezia province, police said Thursday.

The arrests of the group, who were aged between 20 and 35, were made after complaints by locals, said provincial police spokesman Ernesto Serrote.

'Following interrogation, we established that they are not criminals but illegal Ethiopian immigrants hiding away from the authorities,' he said.

MAPUTO, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique threatened Thursday to boycott an upcoming summit between European Union and African leaders if neighbouring Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is barred from the gathering in Lisbon.

Deputy foreign minister Eduardo Koloma said that as a member of a regional bloc which is trying to mediate between the government and opposition in Zimbabwe, the Mozambican government would insist on Mugabe's presence.

HARARE, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - A consignment of at least 1,000 tonnes of wheat imported from Mozambique has been delivered to ease bread shortages in Zimbabwe, which is in the midst of an economic crisis, a state daily reported.

The consignment had earlier been blocked in Mozambique over debts owed to an unnamed foreign supplier.

'At least 1,000 tonnes of wheat, the first consignment of the 36,000 tonnes held in Mozambique, has arrived in Zimbabwe after government secured foreign currency to pay the supplier,' the Herald newspaper said.

MAPUTO, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique on Wednesday lifted a ban on the sale of Colgate tootpaste made in South Africa, after analysis showed that the quantity of chemical substances in it was not detrimental to health.

'Analysis carried out at national and international levels have verified that Colgate is not detrimental to health,' the ministries of health and trade said in a joint communique.

'For this reason, we have decided to authorise anew the sale and consumption of this product,' the text said.

MAPUTO, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - The commanding officer of the first American war ship to dock in Maputo for 30 years pledged on Wednesday that the United States navy stood ready to help Mozambique protect its coastline.

'We are in Mozambique to discuss with the local military authorities the possibility of establishing a partnership with a view to assisting the national navy to protect its territorial waters and coasts,' Commander Dean Vesely told AFP.

PRETORIA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Mozambican counterpart Armando Guebuza reached agreements Tuesday on moves aimed at increasing access and levels of trade across their common border.

In a briefing to reporters after the meeting in the South African capital Pretoria, senior ministers said that the main crossing between the neighbours would soon undergo a major revamp which would make it a one-stop border post.

MAPUTO, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - The Mozambican government on Monday authorised soldiers to gun down wild animals who are seen as a threat to human beings after a new report highlighted an increase in the number of deadly attacks.

'The number of people killed by wild animals keeps increasing,' said the government-sponsored report which found that around 300 people had been killed in the last decade.

Elephants and crocodiles were responsible for most of these deaths, said government spokesman Luis Covane.

MAPUTO, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - At least 440 sites are still heavily infested by landmines near residential districts in three Mozambican provinces, a non-governmental organisation working with the disabled said Thursday.

Demining agency Handicap International said the sites, mined during the former Portuguese colony's 16-year civil war, were in the southern province of Inhambane and central provinces of Manica and Sofala.

MAPUTO, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique and South Africa have agreed to set up a joint security commission to ensure the safety of people and goods on their common borders and roads, Mozambique's defence ministry said Wednesday.

'The establishment of this commission will represent a leap forward in military cooperation between our two countries,' said Teofilo Joao, permanent secretary in the ministry.

The commission will have the 'aim of ensuring the safety of people and goods travelling between southern Mozambique and the northeast of South Africa,' Joao said.

MAPUTO, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique will henceforth demand yellow fever vaccination cards from all incoming travellers or sojourners in any of the 43 countries affected by the disease, an official statement said on Tuesday.

'Travellers who arrive at the border posts without yellow fever vaccination cards will be authomatically vaccinated by national health officials at a cost equivalent to 1,350 meticais (49 euros)', the ministries of health and home affairs said in the statement.

MAPUTO, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - A growing number of Mozambicans are being abandoned by loved ones and shovelled unceremoniously into unmarked graves as AIDS and urbanisation take their toll on one of Africa's poorest countries.

'The number of bodies we have to bury is growing by the day and we are now nearly out of space,' says Alexandre Libombo, manager of Lhanguene cemetery on the outskirts of Maputo.

'Regardless of social status, everyone should be entitled to a dignified burial. But when you're poor, you can't afford this right for your loved ones.'

MAPUTO, Aug 25, 2007 (AFP) - Six children from the same family were killed when a landmine left over from Mozambique's civil war exploded in the southeast African country, the interior ministry said Saturday.

The children found the landmine while playing Thursday in a field behind their home near the village of Namacura in central Mozambique, the ministry said.

One of the children wanted to open the explosive device, which resembled a can, causing the blast. The victims were between the ages of 5 and 16, public television reported.

LUSAKA, Aug 25, 2007 (AFP) - Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa and his Malawian counterpart launched a long-delayed joint rail project Saturday that is expected to help boost trade in southern Africa, state radio said.

Mwanawasa said the venture -- which will connect his landlocked nation to the coast of Mozambique through Malawi -- will become the shortest and cheapest mode of transport for Zambia.

MAPUTO, Aug 24, 2007 (AFP) - Large amounts of drugs which have been imported into Mozambique with the aid of the international community end up being sold on the black market at home and abroad, the health minister said on Friday.

'This growing practice of diverting drugs of our national health system, is carried out with the connivance of government officials who belong to well structured gangs,' Ivo Garrido told journalists.

'They even use heavy tonnage vehicles to ferry the stolen drugs to neighbouring countries, particularly Malawi, where they are sold,' he said.

LUSAKA, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa will host his Malawian and Mozambican counterparts this week for the launch of a rail project that will link his landlocked country to the coast, state media said Wednesday.

Lameck Mangani, the cabinet minister in charge of eastern affairs, told the Zambia Daily Mail that Mozambique's President Armando Guebuza and Malawi leader Bingu Wa Mutharika would join Mwanawasa in the town of Chipata on Friday for the official start of building work on the 26-kilometer (16 mile) link.

MAPUTO, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - South Africa this month intensified the repatriation of Mozambican illegal immigrants, going from 400 to a weekly average of more than 600, Maputo's interior ministry said on Wednesday.

Most had entered South Africa legally but stayed beyond the 30 days allowed under a 2005 accord between the two countries, the ministry said in a statement.

Others entered illegally by crossing the border by their own means or though 'a network of human traffickers,' the statement said.

MAPUTO, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambique said Thursday it would send back to Rwanda any refugees or immigrants suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed 800,000 lives.

'Our country hosts more than 3,000 refugees and Rwandan immigrants,' Mozambique police spokesman Nataniel Macamo told journalists.

'If we find some perpetrators of the genocide among them, we would send them to Rwanda to face the law,' he said.

MAPUTO, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - More than 520,000 people need urgent food aid in Mozambique while 600,000 face famine between now and April next year, the disaster management agency said here on Thursday.

'The food shortages resulted from the joint effects of drought, Favio cyclone and floods which hit the country in the first quarter of 2007, and reduced by 30 percent agricultural production in the central and southern regions of Mozambique,' the director of the National Institute for the Management of Natural Disasters, Paulo Zucula, told AFP.

MAPUTO, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - More than 520.000 people need urgent food aid in Mozambique while 600,000 face famine between now and April next year, the disaster management agency said here on Thursday.

'The food shortages resulted from the joint effects of drought, Favio cyclone and floods which hit the country in the first quarter of 2007, and reduced by 30 percent agricultural production in the central and southern regions of Mozambique,' the director of the National Institute for the Management of Natural Disasters, Paulo Zucula, told AFP.

MAPUTO, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - Mozambican authorities have withdrawn some 42,000 tubes of fake Colgate toothpaste suspected of containing harmful chemicals, an official said Monday.

'We took this measure after we detected the existence of a type of counterfeit Colgate that contains chemical substances detrimental to our health,' said Jose Rodolfo, chief inspector in the ministry of trade.

'Most of the local businesses have been warned not to sell the sample of the brand of Colgate and we urge people not to buy them,' he added.

INHACA ISLAND, Mozambique, Aug 5, 2007 (AFP) - Stretches of pristine beaches wind around Mozambique's coast, a slice of paradise where trouble is brewing as foreigners cash in at the expense of locals from a boom in tourism.

Practically destroyed during a 27-year civil war ending in 1994, tourism in the former Portuguese colony has skyrocketed in recent years, as holidaymakers are drawn to its white sands, crystal clear waters and relaxed atmosphere.

MAPUTO, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Five soldiers were killed on Tuesday when a Mozambican army truck carrying munitions that were about to be destroyed exploded near the country's main airport, the defence ministry said.

Witnesses said several houses were also partially destroyed by the force of the blast which comes four months after 119 people were killed in an explosion at an arms depot close to Maputo airport.