Mozambican police investigate child trafficking

Mozambican police investigate child trafficking

By EMANUEL CAMILLO

The Associated Press

Thursday, March 4, 2010; 10:50 AM

MAPUTO, Mozambique -- Mozambican police have said they are investigating a suspected attempt to traffic 15 children into the central port city of Beira after residents in the area raised the alarm.

Police officer Mateus Mazive told The Associated Press that the children passed through several control points while traveling from Mozambique's northern Nampula province without knowledge of authorities because they were believed to be hidden during the trip. He said the children are being housed in inappropriate conditions.

"The house in question does not provide acceptable conditions for accommodating 15 children, and some of the windows are bricked up, which prevents proper ventilation," he said.

The children have been in Beira since Jan. 17.

Mazive said late Wednesday that the two men responsible for transporting the children told police they were asked to do so by the Beira Muslim Association. The association says that the children are studying at a madrassa, but Mazive said the building where they are being housed is not registered as one.

Mazive said he thinks the children could have been sent to South Africa to work on farms, had they not been found.

Theresa Kilbane, chief of Child Protection at UNICEF Mozambique said that there's reason to believe children are in fact trafficked to South Africa from Mozambique, "but we don't have the data to know exact numbers. Parents are tricked into believing that their children are being taken away for work or other educational opportunities, but end up being trafficked."

Mohamed Yussufo of the Beira Muslim Association denied any trafficking was involved. Yussufo told Mozambique state television that the transportation of the children was "a gesture of charity" by his religious body, which supports children whose parents cannot afford to pay for their studies.

The case remains under investigation, Mazive said.

This is not the first time that groups of children traveling large distances across the country supposedly for religious studies have been discovered by police. Two years ago, police intercepted lorries carrying children suspected to be victims of trafficking. Four people were found guilty in the case and are serving jail sentences.

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