AFRICA/MOZAMBIQUE - 100 dead and almost 500 injured: tragic toll of explosions in Maputo munitions store. The Pope prays for the victims

Monday, 26 March 2007

Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - The explosions on 22 March at a munitions store close to the airport of Maputo, capital of Mozambique (see Fides 23 March 2007), killed a total 100 persons, wounded 492, and robbed 200 more of their homes. A tragic toll for a country struggling to forget the 1975-1992 civil war but still pursued by its sad past.
Yesterday, Sunday 25 March special prayers for the victims were said in Catholic churches across the country. Pope Benedict XVI expressed his grief for the tragedy in a telegramme of sympathy to Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Maputo. The Pope assured his closeness to the grieving families and his prayers for all. He also said he trusted the affected people would receive adequate assistance.
The arsenal contained old munitions from the years of the civil war 1970s and 1980s between FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique) and RENAMO (National Mozambique Resistance). A heritage which, with unexploded anti personnel mines still buried under the soil, conditions the future of the young generations who had the good fortune not to experience the horrors of war .
Mozambique mourns its dead amid growing protests for the presence of an arms deposit surrounded by a vast shanty town. People are questioning the stability of the structure the explosions were caused by recent heat wave temperatures of 38-39. They are also asking why these dangerous obsolete weapons had not been destroyed or moved to a safer place. The government has announced three days national mourning and appointed an independent commission to investigate the episode. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 26/3/2007 righe 27 parole 326)


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