Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Maritime Coordination and Supervision Centre (CEFMAR) could start operating this semester, boosting the ability to mitigate illegality in national territorial waters.
The operation of CEFMAR, currently in pilot activities in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Niassa, Lago, and in the Cahora Bassa reservoir in Tete, depends on the appointment of staff to coordinate the work at national level.
The information was shared by Leonid Chimarizene, spokesperson for the National Maritime Institute (INAMAR), who recalled that the Council of Ministers had already approved the regulations for the centre’s operation, but with the management team that will form the institution still to be appointed.
“We already have the profiles drawn up for the staff, but appointments, which should have happened last year, are still pending. We hope that, with the new administration, this will happen as soon as possible,” Chimarizene said.
CEFMAR will bring together several entities, namely, the National Maritime Institute (INAMAR), the Mozambican Navy, the Customs of Mozambique, the National Migration Service (SENAMI) and the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM).
A site for the CEFMAR offices has already been identified in Matola, Chimarizene says, stressing that the effective operationalisation of CEFMAR will benefit the state through faster, more effective and better coordinated interventions in maritime space.
“Currently, the state goes to sea in a dispersed and individualised manner. With the centre in operation, all actions will be coordinated, including combating smuggling, terrorism, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, illegal fishing and others,” he explained.
It is expected that, with the centre in operation, many crimes that occur at sea will swiftly be forwarded to the Maritime Court, which operates 24 hours a day.
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