'No proof of Moz organ trade'

2004-02-24 11:55

Maputo - A probe into allegations by Roman Catholic nuns of trafficking in human organs in northern Mozambique has turned up no evidence of any such sales, prosecutors say.

"After inquiries and the exhumation of corpses, no proof was found corroborating the accusations of organ trafficking," assistant attorney general Rafael Sebastiao, the head of the probe, told a press conference in Maputo.

He was presenting the preliminary results of the inquiry in Nampula province carried out by two prosecutors accompanied by a forensic doctor and the chief of investigations in the Maputo Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

"We identified the sites where the bodies were buried, and carried out several exhumations and many interrogations," he said.

"We noted that many declarations were contradictory, and we found no proof," he said.

The team, which spent two weeks in the area, examined 14 cases of violent death or disappearances allegedly linked with the sale of organs.

"Several cases of the disappearance of children were noted, but the motive was not organ trafficking," Sebastiao said. He acknowledged local police had been negligent in inquiring into such cases.

The prosecutors also found a dispute over land between a group of local workers and a South African farmer who had been accused by four nuns in Nampula of links with organ trafficking.

The Mozambican Human Rights League also charged that organ trafficking was going on.

- SAPA