MOZAMBIQUE: FIRST TIP-RELATED CONVICTION

UNCLAS MAPUTO 000310 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS AF/S:HTREGER G/TIP:RYOUSEY AF/RSA:MHARPOLE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG ELAB KFRD MZ SUBJECT: MOZAMBIQUE: FIRST TIP-RELATED CONVICTION REF: MAPUTO 259 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Two Mozambican men were sentenced last week to 8 and 9 months in prison, respectively, for kidnapping and attempting to sell a 13-year-old boy in Inhambane province. To Post's knowledge, this is the country's first-ever trafficking-related conviction. It also marks one of the first times the press has expressly linked in-country kidnapping and the attempted selling of a minor to trafficking. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) According to a March 3 newspaper report, earlier that week the Tribunal Court of Maxixe City, located in Inhambane province, sentenced two Mozambican men to prison for kidnapping and attempting to sell a 13-year-old boy named Sergio Raimundo Potanhane. The boy is an elementary school student in Massinga, a neighboring district of the province. The two individuals, Jose Vasco Ngulele and Armando Rafael, were sentenced to eight and nine months in prison, respectively. Police believe the two may be part of a larger crime network involved in the kidnapping and selling of children. ¶3. (U) The crime began in mid-November 2005, when the convicts contacted an audio equipment repairman, Manuel Biliao, who had developed a reputation in the neighborhood for being a "trafficker of organs and genitals," offering to sell him a boy. Biliao agreed to buy the child for 200 million meticais (approximately $8,000). After the arrangements were made, Biliao phoned the investigative police and reported the details of his conversation, including the fact the men told him they had been involved in the selling of children since 2003, and that "trafficking coordination" occurred between a Mozambican national in Massinga and a foreigner of unknown nationality. (Note: According to the report, Biliao said he contacted police "to clear his good name." End Note.) On November 16, the day the deal was to go down, the police sent two undercover agents to act as Manuel's money handlers. It was during this sting operation in Maxixe that the two men were arrested. ¶4. (SBU) Post followed up by telephoning the journalist who wrote the story. The journalist said the two men had approached the boy as he was getting out of school and told him his parents had told them to take him to Maxixe, approximately 60 km away. The boy agreed to go with them. The journalist confirmed that the boy was immediately returned to his family. He said the individuals were convicted of the lesser charge of "constraint," as the child was never sold. Nevertheless, the journalist concluded that the two had every intention of selling the boy. ¶5. (U) COMMENT: It is important to note that the author of the news piece used the phrase "attempted trafficking" in describing the criminal charges leveled against the two men, even though no anti-trafficking-in-persons law exists in Mozambique. Given the absence of a TIP law, the conviction and subsequent reporting may point to the success of public awareness campaigns on trafficking targeting journalists and the judicial sector. This case also highlights what researchers believe is a common phenomenon in Mozambique - the involvement of traffickers in the long-standing practice of sending kids to the city to work or seek a better life. La Lime