On Thursday 12 September, hours after the story was published, the Portuguese public broadcaster RTP dedicated a news slot to it. Portuguese speakers can listen here (from 8.55). The day after publication, Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) announced the arrest, in the country's port city of Beira, of a 43-year old "citizen of Chinese nationality" on accusations of money laundering, illegal exploitation of forest resources, and tax fraud.
The destruction of Quirimbas Park
The Quirimbas National Park in Cabo Delgado, Mozambiqe, is a UNESCO heritage site described on its website as “a hidden gem in Africa’s crown, with beautiful costal forest, secluded islands, and turquoise waters.” It has supposedly received significant amounts in “green” funds from France, Italy, the EU, the World Bank, and other donors to ensure its continued existence as a pristine biosphere. But rapacious logging inside the park is devastating the area. Culprits are said to be a Chinese timber business in collaboration with park agency officials. The partnership is reportedly supported by highly placed connections in the justice system and the ruling party government – the same government that is raking in the green funds.
September 2023, Wimbe beach, Pemba. Three officials from Mozambique’s National Agency for Environmental Quality Control (AQUA), tasked with the maintenance of environmental standards in the country’s nature reserves, explain how they see the Quirimbas Park deteriorating before their eyes. “The traders are taking out truckloads every day,” they say. “Our bosses just pocket their money.” They talk about trying to stop the haemorrhage by issuing fines and penalties, pressing charges, and confiscating trucks, but invariably their efforts come to nought. “Someone will connect to (the government in) Maputo” or “phone the Sofala prosecutors’ office” – the nearest justice department entity, supposed to follow up on charges – or both.
The whistleblowers have tried to stop the haemorrhage
"Big head"
According to the AQUA officials, the main culprit of the massive deforestation – which increasingly exposes the park to hurricanes and erosion – is a Chinese company. Success Investments is headed by Chinese tycoon Yu Guofa, nicknamed “Cabeça Grande”, which means “Big Head”. Earlier this year the company’s unprocessed and large-scale timber exports were exposed by the US-based Environmental Investigations Agency (EIA) as violating several Mozambican export bans.
EIA has also reported that Yu is known to boast of his “personal friendship” with Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi, as well as with local business tycoon and prominent ruling party Frelimo member General Chipande. Chipande owns businesses which were earlier implicated in a ZAM investigation into the devastating exploitation and overfishing of Cabo Delgado’s coastal waters. A source close to Yu told EIA investigators that “the General helps Mr Yu with timber documents.”
“The bosses also sell off wood for their own account”
The whistle-blowing AQUA officials on Wimbe beach add that pocketing bribes, fines, and penalties is not the only way that the park authorities benefit from the timber logging in the nature reserve. “Our bosses have also received 5000 ha worth of cut trees that they have sold on for their own account. The Chinese cut it for them.” Requests for comment on the various allegations, sent to the Quirimbas Park management, the provincial parks department, and AQUA itself, were left without responses.
Truck with logs near the Quirimbas Park. Image by Estacio Valoi.
A mystery from the Gulf
A mysterious trader, said to be based in one of the Gulf states, is the one who, according to the whistle-blowing AQUA officials, “phones the Sofala prosecutor’s office” to make illegal logging cases go away. The officials also say that this trader, whose name they don’t know, receives units of illegally cut wood directly from the Quirimbas Park management, which in turn “receives it from the Chinese loggers as a gift” in exchange for turning a blind eye to their practices in the nature reserve. The trader then ships it off from Mozambique’s Beira port, they add. Fellow journalists in Beira confirm that they have heard of the man. They don’t know his name either, but say he frequents Beira’s high-end restaurants “often in the company of President Nyusi's son, Florindo.”
About a week later, the editor of a trading newsletter in the capital Maputo phones me. He says he has been contacted by the foreign trader in question, who wants to keep himself out of the story. “He wants to know how much money you want?” The editor also does not want to mention the name of “his contact”, but in the discussion it becomes clear that it is the same man. I pretend to consider the offer, then ask if we can send a few interview questions instead. The editor promises to pass the questions on but comes back to say that “the contact” does not want to talk at all.
Is this real or a scheme? It would not be the first time in Mozambique that someone tried to put himself in between a journalist and their story, manipulating both sides, extorting the subject of the story and hoping to pocket the lion’s share of the blackmail money himself. Whatever the case may be, the name of the timber trader from the Gulf will remain a mystery for now.
Al Shabab
Getting into the park to see for myself is easier said than done. Since 2017, the entire province of Cabo Delgado, including the Quirimbas Park, is the scene of an armed insurgency. Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah, known locally as “our Al-Shabab” (distinct from Al-Shabab in Somalia), a set of a few hundred militant youth who violently invade communities, execute those who stand in their way, and “free” territories, is itself a product of predatory exploitation of natural resources – logging and mining – in the region, and the many forced removals of villagers that have resulted. But even though trauma and dispossession play a role in the origins of the movement, one still doesn’t want to run into their armed brigades. Even less so do I want to meet the Mozambican soldiers who combat them, since they have just as little tolerance for prying eyes. The last time I encountered the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces, I was told to scram unless I wanted to be “thrown on the firewood” myself.
The soldiers have threatened to throw me “on the firewood” before
I therefore start in Montepuez, Cabo Delgado’s commercial hub, 200 kilometres west of Pemba. All trucks carrying wood, ivory, rubies, granite, graphite, or gold pass by here.
Cracks and potholes
The journey to Montepuez from Pemba used to take just over two hours, but that was before the trucks started coming and going. Now, the road features so many cracks and potholes that even experienced travellers get nauseous bumping and snaking through. Long abandoned by the National Roads Administration, rudimentary repair work is done by children from the communities displaced by the insurgency. Living in ragged shelters with little capacity to care for them, or in one of the grass houses that have sprung up on the roadside, they fill holes with pebbles and soil from crooked buckets with dusty hands; calluses protrude from little fingers that last held pens long ago. They beg for “toll” from passing motorists.
The children do rudimentary repair work
Besides us – I and two environmental investigative team members in our rented 4x4 – the cars on this road are mostly aid vehicles, here to distribute paracetamol, cans of food, and mosquito nets over the sparse shelters in the area. It won’t be enough for the scores of displaced families who roam the roads and bush paths, carrying bundles, hoping to find a safe place, or a bag of beans, rice, or oil from the World Food Programme. Every now and then, high-powered luxury vehicles carrying ministers and generals (one sometimes also spots the dark grey Toyota Hilux of Jorge Govanhica, provincial director of the National Roads Administration) whizz past. But these, driving at great speed, generally don’t stop to give the children any money.
The trading hub
The populace is diverse in Montepuez. Wood loggers, local dwellers, and the displaced share the streets with ruby and gold traders who come from as far as Tanzania, Nigeria, Senegal, and Somalia, and who congregate at drinking spots next to petrol stations in the late afternoons, when there is less risk of being arrested, detained, or extorted for being an illegal foreigner. They also mingle with the car thieves who bring their wares from South Africa to sell here. Local wood loggers Abdul* and Amade* point at a passing D4D Legend 45, a Prado, a Mark II, a Lexus, linking the vehicles to well-known park inspectors. “Some of them own six of these,” they say.
Abdul and Amade work for Cabeça Grande, simply because he is the only show in town when it comes to timber these days. The two, who drive timber trucks for him, confirm that their boss has contacts in high places. “Our trucks just pay US$50 and are let through. One time the inspectors were difficult, but our bosses told us to just mention that they must contact the park administrator, Duarte Laqueliua. Then suddenly the cutting had been authorised as part of a program by Maputo.” Another instance they remember is when some of Cabeça Grande’s timber trucks were stopped and detained inside the park. “But it was enough to say that the wood belonged to (one of Cabeça Grande’s deputies) and they were immediately released.”
Some of the park inspectors own six luxury vehicles
A locally registered business called Associação Futuro Melhor, “Better Future Association”, holds a timber logging license to cut trees in the province. But according to Abdul and Amade the local bosses operate as “small chiefs’ for the Chinese, logging in the Quirimbas Park, where it is forbidden. “Since all the valuable species of trees, like Jambire and Pau Preto, were terminated (elsewhere), the Chinese were brought into the park in that way. All the timber comes from inside the park now,” Abdul says. Amade adds that there is little wood left even so. “In 2017, we could load between 10 and 15 trucks of Umbila logs with a diameter of 50 to 60 centimeters daily, but currently it is difficult to fill 5 trucks, and the maximum diameter is 38.” Jambire, Pau Preto, and Umbila are all protected species.
Roller-skating
That evening, eating on the roadside, we observe Montepuez’s social classes: those who order large dinners in lavish restaurants; those who eat small bites in cafes; and those who have no money to buy food at all. The wealth enjoyed by some, with their vehicles and expensive tastes, remains an eye-catcher in this town. “This is a roller-skating circle area,” jokes Amade. “The money leaves here (the resources on the trucks) and comes back to Montepuez.”
The resources leave, the money comes back
Returning to Pemba the next morning, we travel behind a convoy of red-and-blue-coloured trucks with Chinese writing and the English translation on the front right: “Sinotruk”. We count about 15, an almost endless set of wagons with containers full of timber, on their way to the harbour. They travel fast, a frantic journey despite the craters in the road, gone to unload swiftly before returning to the park.
Chinese truck near the Quirimbas Park. Image by Estacio Valoi.
Empty football fields
We stop halfway in Muaja village, where the trucks tend to enter the Quirimbas. Trying to find guidance, I come across forest scout Pedro who used to work in the elephant sanctuary Taratibo, deep inside the park. He says he knows where the safe areas are and offers me a ride in his car.
We have not driven far before we see the trees thinning out. High grass is everywhere, but the trees aren’t anymore: the empty, red patches are as big as football fields. When we approach Ngura village, some locals appear on the roadside. They stare at us with looks of incomprehension as we push on through the grass that grows metres high and past the reed houses. Their looks are making us uncomfortable. Maybe Al-Shabab is here after all? We turn around.
Later that afternoon, back in Muaja, I meet local forest operator and truck owner Miguel*, who also works for Cabeça Grande. He explains that his Chinese bosses have no problem with the terrorists. “They just pay them,” he says. “We cut from Muaja to Ngura (unbothered). Sometimes we are escorted by park inspectors, too.”
The Chinese just pay the terrorists
Miguel, reminiscing next to his brown brick house made of burnt mud in his bamboo-fenced yard, says he fondly remembers the “glory days when there was a lot of wood” and he was able to feed his family without a problem. Now, the Chinese are the only ones left in the business. “They just pay the insurgents off,” repeats a colleague who has joined us, a skinny young man who also works as a transporter for the company. “They are the only ones who still go there. There are massive areas where only the Chinese, the terrorists, and the army can enter.”
“Al-Shabab makes US$ 2 million per month”
According to a calculation by the Mozambican social and economic research institute IESE quoted by the Environmental Investigations Agency, illegal logging could net the insurgents in Cabo Delgado around US$2 million per month. EIA says that resource businesses in the province pay “Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah”, also known locally as “our Al-Shabab”, to be able to operate in areas held by the group. As of September 2023, more than 6,500 people had been killed and over 830,000 displaced because of the insurgency. In its report, EIA says that 30% of the timber logged in Cabo Delgado is at high risk of coming from insurgency-occupied forests.
Chainsaws in Quissanga
Francisco*, a Frelimo ruling party member and businessman I meet back in Pemba, is also involved in the timber business, but says he won’t cut trees in the nature reserve because “you can go to jail for 2 to 5 years for that.” He also says he has observed timber logging by the Chinese inside the Quirimbas. “You could hear them the whole of last year near Quissanga (an area inside the park). There was a lot of noise from about twenty trucks, chainsaws, and tractors. The insurgents did not bother them. They only had to stop for a while last year (2023) October, November, and December when there was actual fighting in Quissanga.”
This account correlates with an announcement made on December 29, 2023, by Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) that it seized 84 units of ironwood “belonging to a Chinese citizen” which were illegally transported from Quissanga to a timber warehouse in Montepuez. SERNIC also reported that three Mozambican citizens, “alleged timber smugglers, (were) found in an area of the Quirimbas National Park” even though their license was limited to exploring in Meluco (outside the park). According to SERNIC’s report, a truck full of wood cut in the park was seized as well.
The seized wood was returned to the offending traders
However, the three whistle-blowing AQUA officials and Francisco all say that the seized units were soon released back to the offending traders. “Cabeça Grande paid substantial amounts of money to get the unit, the truck, and the three detainees freed,” says Francisco. The AQUA officials have numbers: “The driver who was arrested was released on bail of (the equivalent of) US$1,500. The release of the other detainees, the wood, and the truck was organised for an amount of close to US$200,000.” This is also confirmed by Abdul, who was one of the loggers detained inside the park.
Requests for comment on the various allegations in this report were sent to Quirimbas Park management; AQUA management; and the Mozambican Parks Agency (ANAC). No responses from any of these were received. Neither did the WhatsApp number of Associação Futuro Melhor respond to messages with request for comment. Contact details or any company registration information could not be obtained for Success Investments or Yu Guofa.
The millions that are not in the books
According to a Mozambican Parks Agency (ANAC) financial report about activities in the Quirimbas Park in the five-year period between 2019 and 2024, four environmental projects in the park were implemented. The projects, called Mozbio, Abelha, Albela II, and MozNorte, range from “improvement of management efficiency” to beekeeping to climate resilience subsidies for communities. The four initiatives are reported to have contributed around 50 million Meticals (the equivalent of US$780,000) to the Quirimbas Park over this five-year period.
A page from the ANAC report listing the funds received for the park between 2019 and 2024.
However, if this is accurate, the Quirimbas seem to be the least worthy of all Mozambique’s conservation areas, since the total donor funding for the four ANAC projects in the same period can be calculated as over US$60 million. The Mozbio project (second phase, 2019-2024) alone, according to a Transfrontier Conservation Areas report, has received US$45 million from the World Bank and over US$13 million from the United Nations’ GEF (see page 8 here). This funding, the report says, is benefiting seven conservation areas in Mozambique, including the Quirimbas. Abelha I and II are bee-protecting projects, funded in five Mozambican nature reserve areas in Mozambique, including the Quirimbas. For these projects, French, German, Spanish and US-based environmental donors have forked out over US$2,5 million through BioFund, a Mozambican environmental NGO.Lastly, the MozNorte project, is a multimillion dollar World Bank-funded endeavour for climate change resilience in the whole northern region of Mozambique. Of this project, roughly US$ 200,000 would have been spent on communities in the Quirimbas.
“We were supposed to have funds for community development”
“We were supposed to have funds, besides for conservation, also for community development like poultry and goat farming, and the construction of water filter factories in Bilibiza village for rice processing,” says whistle-blowing park official Antonio*. “But millions of dollars for that never reached (staff levels). And they are not included in this report. Even tools for forest inspectors don’t reach us. (The bosses) manage an area that they don’t know and aren’t interested in knowing.” ZAM could find no entry in ANAC’s Quirimbas accounts of the US$150,000 pledged to the park by local Montepuez Ruby Mining, to be paid in three tranches between 2021-2023.
We found only one example of help given by provincial authorities to Quirimbas’s villagers: one million Meticals, US$15,000 was distributed over thirteen communities by Cabo Delgado Governor Valige Tauabo in 2023.
Time was too short to contact all the funders for comment, but a list of questions on European funding was sent to the EU delegation in Mozambique, which acknowledged receipt, but did not respond.
*Names changed
This article has been updated to reflect the correction of an error. In the part about the mysterious trader from Beira, the man was reportedly not seen in the company of President Nyusi, but of Nyusi's son Florindo.
