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MOZAMBIQUE | Wednesday, 16 January 2013 | Views [283] | View Smaller Image

Barely three years after resettlement, houses built by Vale for the displaced people of 25 de setembro are already starting to crumble, foundations are cracking, and promised facilities like schools and health services have not been delivered. The community is continuing to fight for its rights via legal channels.

When Brazilian mining company Vale moved into the northern Mozambican town of Moatize, they displaced an entire community to make way for a massive coal mine, shifting some people to a housing development called “25 de setembro”. Here, there is no longer land to grow food and, without a river, water is something that people must now pay for. This is one of the only trees in an otherwise barren tract of land.

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Conditions at the “25 de setembro” community are below what Vale had promised to the people when convincing them to relinquish their land. But people are resilient and find ways to thrive while the legal battle against Vale continues. A man visits a small shop, which supplies food to the community.

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