Africa-Press – Mozambique. Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will donate the €30,000 of his José Aparecido de Oliveira prize, awarded by the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), to the victims of terrorism in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.
The announcement was made in Luanda on Saturday (17 July), after the Portuguese president received the award during the closing session of the CPLP Summit of Heads of State and Government.
“I intend to donate the prize money to Caritas of Mozambique, to be distributed by the non-governmental organisations that do so much in Cabo Delgado, and under such difficult conditions, for true and lasting social peace with unlimited humanitarian return,” he said, extolling the principles of justice, democracy and freedom.
“For these and for all those who in all our sovereign homelands build liberty, fraternity and justice every day, go my first and last thought,” the Portuguese president declared, to a prolonged round of applause by the heads of state and government of the CPLP member states.
In his brief speech, Rebelo de Souza stressed that the CPLP “is a community of common principles and values”, saying he was moved to be chosen to receive the award, which is named after José Aparecido de Oliveira, Brazilian diplomat and minister of culture, who died in 2007.
“In addition to being a huge honour, this award also represents a huge responsibility in the sense that we continue to fight together for the valuing of the Portuguese language and for the promotion of the CPLP’s principles and objectives,” Rebelo de Souza added.
The Portuguese head of state also highlighted the aspiration of “actively contributing to the strengthening of the ties of cooperation, mutual help and friendship that unite” the peoples of the Portuguese-speaking world, specifying in particular the areas of “research, teaching, science, health, agriculture, defence, rule of law, justice, security, culture, sport, sustainable development, digital transition and mobility”.
“Everything at the service of people, starting with children and young people,” he stressed.
In this brief speech, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also mentioned his career as a university professor in several Portuguese-speaking countries.
“I remember the times I lived teaching here, and in Angola, in Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and at a distance in East Timor, starting with my first agreement with the Faculty of Law of Guinea-Bissau,” he recollected.
Established in 2011 and biennial in nature, the José Aparecido de Oliveira prize, named after one of the main creators of the CPLP, honours personalities and institutions that stand out in the defence, appreciation and promotion of principles and values and community objectives, as well as in carrying out studies and related research work.
The CPLP is made up of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.
Angola assumed the rotating presidency of the CPLP at the Luanda summit, which approved a CPLP mobility agreement creating a community-wide visa and residence permit for citizens of member states.
