The National Director of Civil Identification in Mozambique, Domingos Jofane has said more than 30,000 of his compatriots living and working in South Africa already have biometric identity cards and passports. It is part of a campaign promoted by his country’s Ministry of Interior which includes Tanzania, Algeria, France, Portugal, Germany and Spain.

the process runs smoothly and it is expected that thousands of Mozambicans are to receive new documents while in Tanzania it is expected that the documents are assigned to 16, 000 people, while in four European countries the process will include more than 2000 Mozambicans who live and work there.

Domingos Jofane, who is in Europe to follow the process in these countries, was quoted by state-controlled daily newspaper Notà­cias as saying that efforts are focused on the exchange of manual for biometric documents, all to ensure that when rules of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) come into force no Mozambican will be harmed.

By the rules, in November this year all travelers must carry biometric documents. The process of issuing the biometric documents began in September last year in South Africa and was extended to Tanzania and Algeria, in the African continent, and Portugal, Spain, France and Germany, in Europe. The brigades are scattered throughout the areas where there are large numbers of Mozambicans, including some mining companies and farms.