One of the founders of Frelimo, Pascoal Mocumbi, died 25 March at the age of 81, after a long illness. In 1980 he became Minister of Health, in 1987 Foreign Minister and Prime Minister from 1994 to 2004.
In the colonial era he went to Lisbon to study medicine but his political activities forced him to flee to France. In 1962 he was part of the meeting in Tanzania which created Frelimo, was named to the central committee, and was permanent representative in Algeria 1965-7. The was an important post because of the strong support of Algeria for the Mozambique independence struggle.
He went to Switzerland to finish his medical training, and only returned to Mozambique in 1975, after independence. He held senior medical posts until he was named minister. He always promoted health development in Mozambique and the rest of Africa, with a range of projects with WHO and other agencies. He was of the first Frelimo generation that really believed the priority was development of the country and all its people.