Mozambique ranks among the African countries with high crime rates and low resilience to organized crime, according to the Africa Organized Crime Index 2025, presented on Monday, November 17, in Nairobi, Kenya.
According to a report by Lusa, the study was presented at the conference “Strengthening Africa’s Response to Transnational Organized Crime” and quantified organized crime rates and the resilience of African countries on a scale from one to ten.
The study indicates that Mozambique, with 6.63 points, ranks eighth among African countries with the highest crime rates, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) leading the continental ranking at 7.47 points.
“The Portuguese-speaking country gained 0.43 points since 2023, the year of the last organized crime report. The nation shows a resilience score of 3.25,” the document notes.
The data also show that Angola has a crime rate of 5.62, an increase of only 0.04 over 24 months, demonstrating that organized crime “significantly influences” the country. Rumbi Matamba, the analyst responsible for presenting the report, stated that the index does not measure the level of security, but emphasized that countries should aim to be “positioned in the quadrant of low crime and high resilience to organized crime.”
“In Africa, only three countries are in this ideal quadrant, with Cape Verde in the best position, having a crime rate of 4.08 and resilience of 6.54,” Matamba highlighted.
“Among Portuguese-speaking countries, the ideal quadrant includes Cape Verde and Portugal. São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste, and Guinea-Bissau have crime and resilience scores below 5.5,” she concluded.
Recently, the Minister of Interior, Paulo Chachine, confirmed the presence in Mozambique of an Interpol team—the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO)—which coordinates police actions among different countries. According to the minister, the mission aims to support national forces in a simultaneous operation targeting organized crime affecting the country and the region.
The minister explained that this joint effort is not limited to Mozambique but also extends to other African countries. The operation is running simultaneously in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Eswatini, under coordination of Interpol regional offices based in Harare, Zimbabwe.
“This is a standard operation, and I believe there will be results, but these will be evaluated at the end. At this moment, work is ongoing,” the minister emphasized, assuring that Mozambican authorities are committed to executing the actions in close coordination with international partners.
Chachine added that the main focus of the operation is combating organized crime. Targeted crimes include human trafficking, drug trafficking, and illegal migration, issues that continue to concern Mozambican and regional authorities.
Source: Diário Económico
