At least 30 Mozambicans living in Angola and Portugal have requested to be repatriated from the two countries in order to be with family during the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official said on Saturday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation spokesperson Geraldo Saranga said the Mozambicans have been unable to return home after the two countries closed borders after declaring states of emergency in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.
He said the stranded Mozambicans have approached the country’s embassies in Angola and Portugal for assistance.
“We have 21 Mozambicans in Portugal who asked to return to Mozambique and approximately 10 in Angola contacted the consulate,” Saranga told journalists in the capital Maputo.
He revealed that the Mozambican authorities were “holding talks with these two countries in order to create conditions for the repatriation of our citizens back to their homeland.”
He said that the government was negotiating with the aim of guaranteeing a flight from Portugal to Mozambique and vice versa.
“We know that we have Portuguese citizens here who prefer to return to Portugal,” he said.
Regarding the 38 Mozambican students who are studying in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei province where the disease broke out, Saranga said that they are safe.
“We have no record of any infection from our consular services,” he said.
As of Saturday, Mozambique had recorded 35 cases of COVID-19, with no deaths.
CM/jn/APA