Advertisement

Victims of Violence in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Set to Benefit from Annual Award Fund

Map showing the troubled region of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique. Credit: Public Domain
ACI Africa

By ACI Africa

Aboard the papal plane, 20 July, 2021 / 9:15 pm (ACI Africa).

Victims of violence in Mozambique’s troubled Cabo Delgado Province are set to become beneficiaries of the 2021 “José Aparecido de Oliveira Prize” through Caritas Mozambique, the President of Portugal who this year’s recipient of the award has announced.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa who was addressing participants in the 13th Summit of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) in Angola’s capital, Luanda, over the weekend, said, “I intend to donate the amount of this prize to Caritas Mozambique.”

The Prize that is worth 30,000 Euros, President Rebelo de Sousa further said on Saturday, July 17, is to “be distributed to the non-governmental organizations in Cabo Delgado who are doing so much, and in such difficult conditions, for true and lasting social peace with unlimited humanitarian devolution.”

The José Aparecido de Oliveira Award aims to honor personalities and institutions that distinguish themselves in the defense, enhancement and promotion of the CPLP, whose members include, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor.

The CPLP award that was created in 2011 is named after the Brazilian politician and former Minister of Culture who is considered one of the main supporters of the creation of the CPLP Summit.

Advertisement

Speaking after receiving the award on July 17, President Rebelo de Sousa expressed appreciation to those who spearheaded the event saying, “I am humbled to have been chosen to receive this prize. I thank the organizers for designating me for this award.”

“This prize also represents an enormous responsibility in the sense that we continue together to fight for the enhancement of the Portuguese language and the promotion of the principles and objectives of the CPLP,” President Rebelo de Sousa who has been at the helm of Portugal since March 2016 added.

The leadership of Caritas Portuguesa, the official Catholic Church organization in Portugal for charity and social relief under the auspices of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference, that has been collaborating with Caritas Mozambique to reach out to victims of violence in Cabo Delgado, has acknowledged with appreciation the decision of the President of the Southern European country.

In transferring the funds from his award to victims of violence in Mozambique, the leadership of Caritas Portuguesa says, President Rebelo de Sousa recognizes the “work that has been done by all the organizations that are in direct support to the victims of the conflict in Cabo Delgado, in Northern Mozambique.”

“This is good news and shows great generosity on the part of President Marcelo, as it confirms and reinforces what has been his position on Cabo Delgado,” Rita Valadas of Caritas Portugal says in the statement issued July 18.

More in Africa

Sierra Leone

Pro-Abortion Activists Fabricating Maternal Death Statistics to Push for Abortion in Sierra Leone: Religious Leaders

Read the article

Ms. Valadas further says, “Caritas applauds the great recognition of the urgency of finding a resolution to this conflict in order to give the more than 800,000 displaced people the possibility to resume their lives.”

Since 2019, Caritas Portuguesa has supported the population of Mozambique both in response to the impact of Cyclones Idai and Kenneth, and in emergency food support and reconstruction of livelihoods of displaced people in Cabo Delgado.

Trending

You may also like

Pope Francis Begins Indonesia Visit with Call for Catholic-Muslim Dialogue

On Pope Francis’ first full day of public appearances in Indonesia on Wednesday, the pope called upon the political leaders...

Archbishop John Baptist Odama during the December 14 celebration to mark 50 years since he was ordained a Priest. Credit: Catholic Archdiocese of Gulu

At Priestly Golden Jubilee, Catholic Archbishop in Uganda Advocates for Selflessness, Appeals for Clemency to Prisoners

Archbishop John Baptist Odama has marked 50 years since he was ordained a Priest with a call to selfless service, a request...

Bishops serving in the Ecclesiastical Province of Nampula, Mozambique.

Bishops in Mozambique's Nampula Province “deeply concerned about violence in Cabo Delgado”

Bishops serving in the Ecclesiastical Province of Nampula in Mozambique are “deeply concerned” about the “mysterious and incomprehensible” conflict in...