‘West Germany wants to help Mozambique’

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 6

‘West Germany wants to help Mozambique’

NZPA-Reuter Maputo A West German Rightwing leader, Franz Josef Strauss, told senior Mozambican officials yesterday that his country wanted to help Mozambique solve its problems and realise its 'potential. Mr Strauss, Prime Minister of Bayaria and leader of the conservative Christian Social Union party in the Bonn coalition, flew in from Cape Town on the second leg of a diplomatic mission to southern Africa on behalf of Chancellot Helmut Kohl. ; After a meeting with the Co-operation Minister, Jacinto Veloso, a white member of the Marxist Frelimo leadership, Mr Strauss was td dine with President Joaquim Chissano. -I

In the past,; some Mozambican press reports have linked Mr Strauss to the Right-wing rebels of the Mozambican National Resistance (M.N.R.), a

charge he has denied. Mr Strauss told Mr Veloso and other Mozambican officials he had come “to gather as much information as possible so that our Government can make positive decisions.” Describing his visit as one of “co-operation and friendship”, he said he viewed Mozambique as a potentially very rich country and wanted to help it realise its potential.

“We want to .contribute to the solutions of the problems,” he said. Mr Strauss, who met President Pieter Botha in Cape Town, will return for a second meeting after talks with President Chissano. While Mr Strauss’s visit to Pretoria marks a rare break in South Africa’s diplomatic isolation, Mozambique receives a regular stream of visitors from major Western States. Dr Kohl held talks with President Chissano in Maputo in November.