US embassy cable - 04MAPUTO1040

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 001040 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, PREL, KIRF, KISL, KDEM, MZ, RENAMO, Religion (non-islam) 
SUBJECT: AMERICAN MISSIONARIES GET TANGLED IN POLITICAL, 
RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE. 
 
 
1. (SBU) Summary. On June 26, 14 Americans were expelled 
from Montepuez in Cabo Delgado province, where they were 
setting up an evangelical mission, on the pretenses that 
they were acting as spies for Renamo, the opposition party. 
On July 14-16, Conoff visited Cabo Delgado to meet with 
local officials to mediate and generally learn more about 
the situation. The expulsion took place during a 
presidential election year in a politically contested 
region, and serves as a cautionary tale that some elements 
in the government are still looking to paint Americans as 
"pro-Renamo" for political purposes. The incident is also 
one in a series of difficulties that American evangelicals 
have encountered in the past year while establishing 
missions in heavily Muslim Northern Mozambique. Given that 
the American missionary presence will continue rising in 
these areas, and that missionaries are often the only 
visible American presence, the Embassy will have to monitor 
and, when appropriate, mediate potential conflicts into the 
future. End Summary. 
 
2. (U) The 14 Americans (plus one Japanese citizen) 
expelled from Montepuez are members of the Boa Nova for 
Africa missionary group, an evangelical group that has 
operated in Southern Mozambique for many years. The group 
members arrived in Montepuez in April 2004 with the 
intention of setting up a mission and living in the 
community for 10-15 years; it was Boa Nova's first excursion 
into the North. In mid-June, the missionaries contacted the 
Embassy, indicating that they were under suspicion of being 
Renamo operatives. One week later, they were ordered to 
evacuate by the town administrator, leaving their household 
belongings behind. According to several people with whom I 
spoke, the Governor of Cabo Delgado, Jose Pacheco, had 
openly accused the Americans on a popular local radio 
program of being Renamo spies. The group relocated to the 
neighboring province of Nampula, where another American- 
based missionary organization is currently hosting them. 
 
3. (U) Conoff visited Montepuez on July 15 as part of a 
pre-scheduled ACS trip to Cabo Delgado province, in order to 
determine what happened, and how we might be able to 
mediate. It seemed apparent that the cause of the problem 
was political, not religious. Among cities in the North, 
Montepuez is one of the most religiously mixed and relaxed; 
Catholic churches, older evangelical missions, and a 
surprisingly run-down Mosque co-exist in close proximity. 
The town is at the same time perhaps the most politically 
tense place in the country. Montepuez was always a site of 
Renamo-Frelimo conflict during the civil war, but the 
conflict escalated in the aftermath of the government's 
handling of a protest carried out against the government by 
Renamo in November 2000. After sporadic violence during the 
event, a large number of protestors were taken to the 
Montepuez prison, where approximately 80 prisoners died. 
Subsequent investigations found that 96 inmates had been 
locked into a 3m by 7m cell, and most of these died of 
suffocation. 
 
4. (SBU) The government has responded to the Montepuez 
scandal by simultaneously endowing the city with generous 
funding and by increasing its police and security force 
activities. Each trend was easy to identify. Mayor Rafael 
Correia and Town Administrator Alberto Cossa detailed for me 
a large number of visible accomplishments, such as new 
schools, roads, and cellular phone services, all of which 
helped him win re-election last year. Each man separately 
stated that the missionaries would be welcome back in the 
area once they cleared their plan with Religious Affairs and 
the governor's office in Pemba. Police Chief Cesar Maciamo 
was not so conciliatory, however, and openly accused the 
missionaries of being spies in my meeting with him. Maciamo 
is a recent appointee of the Governor Pacheco. He did not 
elaborate further on why he thought this. 
 
5. (SBU) While in town, Conoff also met with 20-plus 
Renamo supporters in Montepuez. Many claimed that they had 
been imprisoned for political activities in the past few 
years, and detailed a long list of alleged abuses by 
Frelimo. They knew of the Boa Nova situation but claimed 
they had no contact with them. Every party member in the 
meeting was over 40 years old, and they lamented the fact 
that no young people join their party because it is 
impossible to get a job as a known Renamo supporter. It 
seems clear that Frelimo is consolidating its grip in the 
Montepuez area. 
 
6. (U) Upon returning to Pemba, Conoff met with 13 
American citizens, including two families from Boa Nova who 
traveled from Nampula for the meeting. They are now writing 
a work plan proposal to return to Montepuez only after the 
December 2004 elections. Conoff later met with the Director 
of Religious Affairs, Inacio Abdul, to get a sense of the 
situation. Mr. Abdul admitted that the idea of a group of 
six young American missionary families working for Renamo 
was farfetched at best. He seemed favorable to the idea of 
letting them enter Montepuez after the elections, with the 
Governor's approval. It was not possible to meet with 
Governor Pacheco because of the concurrent visit of 
President Chissano to the province. Other meetings were 
held with the Police, Migration, Customs, and other relevant 
officials. 
 
7. (U) The Boa Nova situation can be seen as a case in 
which missionaries poked around a political hornet's nest 
with a little too much curiosity. The last year has seen 
multiple cases, however, of American missionaries getting 
into trouble with local religious authorities for reasons 
that are not directly political. In February 2004, two 
American missionaries were kicked out of Niassa province on 
the grounds that their objectives were unclear. A 
missionary family from Zambezia was forced to relocate to 
Nampula in May for the same reason, but expects to be back 
soon. Another missionary organization in Sofala province, 
Care for Life, was temporarily kicked out of the province in 
May for alleged improprieties and was reinstated by the 
governor one week later. Missionaries report that 
authorities in the Northern provinces of Cabo Delgado, 
Niassa, Tete, and Zambezia will not allow evangelical 
Christian missionaries into the province unless they can 
detail the economic and community development activities 
that will take place alongside proselytizing activities. 
While such provisos do not appear to be technically legal 
based on our limited understanding of Mozambican law, they 
should come as no surprise, considering that these provinces 
are at least half Muslim, and the religious affairs 
officials of all these provinces plus Nampula are Muslim. 
Muslim organizations, for their part, are actively pouring 
money into highly visible construction and education 
projects. (My cab driver told me that a Saudi-based 
organization paid for his cousin to study Islamic religious 
thought in the Sudan.) 
 
8. (U) Post expects more of these minor conflicts in the 
future since the American population in Northern Mozambique 
is largely comprised of missionaries - and the population is 
growing rapidly. Cabo Delgado alone has increased in the 
past 18 months from 8 to 31 registered Americans, all but 
two of whom are missionaries. The American population in 
Nampula province now counts around 60 missionaries, three 
non-missionary private Americans, and 4 Peace Corps 
Volunteers. (The Peace Corps is not present in Cabo 
Delgado, Zambezia, or Niassa.) Most of these groups have 
been careful to set up operations in areas that are not 
exclusively Muslim, allowing themselves space to operate. 
In the past year, however, two evangelical groups have 
contacted us about their intentions to set up sizable 
operations in Northern Mozambique, with a focus on entirely 
Muslim areas of the Coast - often areas where no Americans 
have ever lived. The potential for conflict is significant. 
 
9. (U) In anticipation of further problems, the Consular 
Section has scheduled further meetings with Religious 
Affairs authorities in Maputo, and will be developing 
informational literature to guide American citizens on the 
procedures involved in registering a religious organization. 
Beyond providing literature explaining the rules, it will be 
difficult for Post to determine how much assistance we are 
able to provide to American evangelical groups. The Boa 
Nova case had clear political content focused on this year's 
elections, charging that Americans were actively supporting 
one side, and therefore required mediation. But future 
conflicts may be purely religious in nature, and Post will 
have to take situations case-by-case in order to determine 
our stake in the situation. 
LA LIME