Maputo — The Justice Provider of Mozambique, Isaque Chande, held a courtesy meeting on Tuesday, August 11, with the newly appointed Justice Provider of Angola, João Manuel Francisco, aimed at strengthening institutional ties between the two countries and identifying new areas of cooperation.
During the meeting, Isaque Chande congratulated João Francisco on his election to the position and expressed satisfaction at initiating institutional contact with the new head of the Angolan institution. Chande noted that Mozambique and Angola have been steadily consolidating a close cooperative relationship between their respective Justice Providers, grounded in a shared commitment to promoting and defending fundamental rights, justice, and the protection of citizens.
The Mozambican Justice Provider highlighted the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions, which has facilitated the exchange of information, experience, and knowledge on matters of common interest. He recalled past technical exchange initiatives between the two institutions, including the dispatch of Mozambican technical teams to Angola and the participation of Angolan technicians in a training session held in Maputo, in partnership with a Mozambican public university — initiatives he described as having yielded positive results in professional training and experience-sharing.
Chande also announced that the Mozambican Justice Provider is preparing for a new institutional phase, with the 15th anniversary of the institution to be celebrated in May 2027. He expressed hope that the celebrations could bring together Justice Providers from the SADC region and representatives of counterpart institutions from across the African continent, and extended an invitation to João Francisco and a delegation from the Angolan Ministry of Justice to attend.
The Mozambican leader further noted that Angola’s experience in expanding Ministry of Justice services to its provinces offers valuable lessons for Mozambique, which is similarly working to extend its services to provincial capitals — a process that, he acknowledged, faces financial and logistical challenges. He expressed confidence that Angola’s experience in territorial service expansion could serve as a useful reference in shaping solutions suited to Mozambique’s context.
Concluding his remarks, Chande reiterated his congratulations to João Francisco and wished him success in his new role, expressing confidence that his leadership would help deepen relations between the two institutions.
For his part, Angola’s Minister of Justice, João Francisco, described the meeting as an important opportunity to strengthen institutional ties between the two countries. While noting that this was the first formal contact in this format, he emphasized that relations between Angola and Mozambique are historical, rooted in strong cultural ties, a shared history, and, above all, the Portuguese language.
Francisco reaffirmed his institution’s full availability to maintain permanent and open communication with Mozambique’s Ministry of Justice, and advocated for the full utilization of the existing Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions to intensify the sharing of experiences, promote knowledge exchange, and seek joint solutions to shared challenges. “We want to work together. We want to share experiences, identify common challenges, and seek solutions that will allow us to improve our intervention in the defense of fundamental rights,” he stated.
João Manuel Francisco, the new Justice Provider of Angola, was elected by the National Assembly of Angola on May 28, 2026, and took office on June 24, 2026, succeeding Antónia Florbela de Jesus Rocha Araújo, whose five-year term concluded in June 2026.
