By Petros Tseu
Mozambique has increasingly been marching out of sync with fellow Southern Africa Development Community( SADC) member states by secretly engaging in illicit underhand dealings with the authoritarian dynasty of the DPRK which is infamous for gross human right abuses.
The former Portuguese colony has been dragged in the mud for recruiting North Korean doctors across the county in a blatant disregard and violation of a binding United Nations Security Council( UNSC) resolutions that forbid foreign governments to do business with the North Korean regime.
At first Mozambique denied the presence of DPRK medical personel in the country but the world was vindicated when it was reported in the newspaper Noticias, 4 June, 2025 citing a North Korean Embassy in Maputo that a North Korean woman had dissapeared allegedly kidnaped.
The lady had been in Mozambique visiting her husband a doctor working with the so-called North Korean mission in Manica Province.
Allegedly, at least 100 North Koreans, the majority of whom are believed to be medical doctors and their families, are plying their trade in Mozambique in contravention of UNSC Resolution 2397 that accused North Korea of illegally exporting workers and an assortment of contractors and earning tens of millions of US dollars as a means of generating revenue for its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
North Korea is a very oppressed country. The people cannot hear anything happening around the world other than the propaganda from the government press.
Yet Mozambique, known world-wide for its thriving tourism industry, a bustling seaport into the Mediterranean seas conversely
is known for other things. Its seemingly porous border control measures and a thriving culture of corruption has marked it as a mecca for international smugglers of illegal rhino, ivory poached and trekked down from across the SADC region where it is in abundance.
Regionally, Botswana had been most vocal in raising concern on DPRK activities in Africa most especially Mozambique.
The newly elected government under the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) through the the Minister of International Relations, Dr. Phenyo Butale, Botswana is continuing a long held tradition by its forebearers to speak out against injustices and human rights abuses by any country.
Under Khama’s leadership, Botswana severed ties with North Korea and actively called on the world to bring its international isolation.
In November of 2013, North Korea carried out its third nuclear test in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions and other international ballistic arms limitations and treaty obligations and this incensed the Botswana leadership more.
This led to a powerful stance Botswana undertook to support the OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) field office in Seoul and one of the few that supported the referral of North Korea to the International Criminal Court at the (ICC).
“The continued repression, systematic and gross human rights abuses as well as the widespread abductions programmes are all horrific examples to pronounce our full solidarity to the suffering people of North Korea and any engagement with them is a deliberate betrayal of humanity,” stated the former UDC government under Ian Khama.
“For as long as the regime in Pyongyang continues with gross human rights abuses, and its nuclear and missile development programmes, Botswana must be at the forefront of international efforts to impose even more pressure on the regime.” it added.
The Botswana government’s strong stance on the North Korean regime serves as a powerful message that human rights abuses will not be tolerated.
These views have echoed for decades in the international sphere, but few countries have taken the kind of proactive measures that Botswana has.
By continuing to isolate and pressure the regime diplomatically, Botswana is contributing to the broader goal of holding North Korea accountable for its egregious actions and working towards a future where human rights and political freedoms are respected and upheld for all people.
Botswana’ s President Duma Boko, himself a Havard- trained human rights legal expert and known for his passion for human rights, the shady deals between Mozambique and DPRK will find a fierce critic in real time ensuring North Korea walks the path of democracy on which human rights and political freedoms are respected.
“This is how Botswana, unlike some African governments, must find its commitment to UN legal instruments on clear and firm actions, and this works against the African Union embracing such defiant conduct by North Korea,” an unamed official in the Ministry of International Relations was recently quoted in Botswana’ s Weekend Post, May 17.
Until and unless fellow African countries use legal instruments, available institutional recourse in the SADC and African Union and other groupings to whip errant countries like Mozambique into line, the exploitative relationship between Mozambique and Pyongyang will continue to fester like a wound.
It should be noted when one sups with the devil, it should be with a long spoon. The genuinity of North Korea in Africa is lopsided.
The regime pushes for its own interests to survive and circumvent biting economic sanctions. It is about bagging dollars by any means necesary for its ambitious nuclear projects.
Adversity makes strange bedfellows so it is said. Mozambican political players found willing corrupt partners in Pyongyang which has for years been ostracised by the world for its military aggression and authoritarian rulership on its people.
Early this year, some Mozambican nationals residing in South Africa voiced their concern on the North Korea- Frelimo relationship holding a demonstration at the gates of the NK embassy on the 16th of February in Pretoria. They highlighted the exploitative nature of the deals shrouded in secrecy which only benefitted the elites and North Korea at the expense of the people of Mozambique.
It would be an even bigger shame if regional countries that fought side by side with Mozambique for its liberation from clonial rule were thrown under the bus by Mozambique leader not taking heed of the friendly advice.
The venerated anti- colonial stalwart, Samora Machel of Mozambique died in a plane crash in South Africa enroute to Mozambique and was known in the region canvassing support from regional political players to fend off the colonials in the country. That spoke to the oneness of the region.
It would be a tremendous own goal in terms of Mozambique’s foreign policy, regional intergration and national interests if it continues the bromance with North Korea’ s dictator Kim Jong-un.
