By Leon Mangasarian


Berlin - Mozambique's Foreign Minister Alcinda Abreu called on the industrialised world on Friday to provide alternative methods to fight Malaria, or drop opposition to using DDT against mosquitoes which spread the disease.

"Malaria is killing our people," said Abreu during a visit to Berlin for talks with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

United Nations data shows that malaria accounts for 35% of all deaths among children under five in Mozambique, and has helped give the country one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.

'They have to give us alternatives, not blah, blah, blah'

The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria last year signed an agreement to give Mozambique $12-million worth of aid aimed at malaria, including insecticide-treated bed nets.

But most children still sleep unprotected in Mozambique and Abreu's impatience with the human tragedy was palpable.

When asked about Western environmental groups which fiercely oppose the use of DDT - which has been banned from farm use since the 1970s due to damaging effects on the environment - the minister's eyes flashed.

"They have to give us alternatives, not blah, blah, blah," said Abreu, who stressed that any substitutes would have to be as cheap and effective as DDT. Abreu noted that DDT had been used in Mozambique by the Portuguese until the country won its independence in 1975.

She said that along with other southern African states, Mozambique was preparing to start testing the use of DDT in the battle against malaria. Two districts had been chosen for tests, but Abreu declined to say when these would start.

The real answer to malaria would be the development of an effective and easy-to-adminster vaccine, said Abreu.

Malaria is the world's most dangerous parasitic tropical disease and kills more people than all other communicable diseases, except for tuberculosis, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The annual death toll worldwide is estimated at 1.1 million people - a far higher figure than those who die of Aids, said WHO. Another deadly problem hampering Mozambique is landmines, said Abreu.

At the height of the country's war of independence, and subsequent civil war, Mozambique had up to two million landmines planted in its territory.

So far about 230 million square metres of territory have been cleared, and about 112 400 mines and 130 000 other explosive devices have been destroyed, said Abreu.

"We still need the support of the international community and the UN on this," she said.

Speaking about regional issues, Abreu underlined her government's endorsement of elections earlier this year in Zimbabwe, which opposition leaders in Zimbabwe and European Union countries and the US said were neither free nor fair.

She said Europeans and Americans failed to understand the way in which African countries deal with one another. "We are a family and in family you use dialogue," she said.

While insisting that Zimbabwe must solve its own problems, Abreu indicated that Mozambique would continue to welcome white farmers who have been fleeing Zimbabwe's chaotic land reform programme.

Abreu said about 80 white farmers from Zimbabwe had established new farming enterprises in her country.

White farmers are not allowed to buy land in Mozambique, but can be granted the right to farm up to 250 hectares, she said.

"Mozambique is a free and democratic country so the doors are open," she said, adding: "Whoever can come and invest following the laws, can come and invest in my country." - Sapa-dpa