“Very emotional, it was a very beautiful ceremony, the morning tribute. And now it will be very popular and very beautiful too,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa when questioned upon arrival at the stadium at around 10:30 AM local time (09:30 AM in Lisbon), after participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument to Mozambican heroes in central Maputo.
“It’s a great moment for Mozambique and for Portugal. And I am very, very happy, because it’s a message of the future. Morning homage ceremony to the past, and now it’s the future,” added the Portuguese head of state.
Hundreds of people gathered from the early hours around the Estádio da Machava, the site where Mozambique’s independence was proclaimed in 1975 and where the 50th-anniversary celebrations are being held today.
The stadium, which has been renovated in recent months to host today’s ceremonies, saw final preparations underway from daybreak, from cleaning to decoration of the structures, as people started arriving more than three hours before the official program began.
“It’s the day of our celebration,” say the local people, who took their places on one side of the stadium, while outside, dozens of stalls sold food prepared overnight, as well as traditional products.
There was increased security in the area, though no disturbances or incidents were reported.
Mozambique is celebrating 50 years of independence today, with the main ceremony in Maputo led by the President of the Republic, Daniel Chapo, and attended by 32 heads of state, including those of Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, Sissoco Embalo.
Also attending the ceremony are former Mozambican Presidents Joaquim Chissano, Armando Guebuza, and Filipe Nyusi.
The central ceremonies are taking place in the historic Estádio da Machava in Mozambique’s capital, where the country’s first President, Samora Machel, declared independence in the early hours of June 25, 1975, after beginning the fight against the Portuguese colonial regime on September 25, 1964.
The ceremony includes the official address by the President of the Republic, military parades, cultural moments, a message from citizens who are turning 50 (the same age as the independence), and an address by the leader of Podemos, the largest opposition party.
An estimated 40,000 people are expected at the Machava stadium, which has an official capacity of 45,000. The event is also highlighted by the arrival of the unity flame, which traveled throughout the country since April 7. The flame will be used to light the stadium’s torch by the head of state.
Upon arrival in Maputo on Tuesday evening, the Portuguese President expressed seeing Mozambique as “looking to the future” after post-electoral unrest, celebrating 50 years of independence, and announced that he would host his Mozambican counterpart in Lisbon on July 3.
“Pleased to see a country looking to the future, looking to the future with a climate aimed at economic and social development, financial development, progress, justice, and, naturally, also political and institutional stability,” said President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when asked upon arrival in Maputo about the pacification experienced in Mozambique since March, following five months of post-electoral unrest that caused around 400 deaths.
