Mozambique Channel

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox body of water

The Mozambique Channel (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about Template:Convert long and Template:Convert across at its narrowest point, and reaches a depth of Template:Convert about Template:Convert off the coast of Mozambique. A warm current, the Mozambique Current, flows in a southward direction in the channel, leading into the Agulhas Current off the east coast of Southern Africa.<ref name="brit"/>

Extent

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) defines the limits of the Mozambique Channel as follows:<ref name="iho"/>

On the North. A line from the estuary of the River Rovuma (Template:Coord) to Ras Habu, the northernmost point of Ile Grande Comore, the northernmost of the Comore (Comoro) Islands, to Cap d'Ambre (Cape Amber), the northern extremity of Madagascar (Template:Coord).
On the East. The west coast of Madagascar.
On the South. A line from Cap Sainte-Marie, the southern extremity of Madagascar to Ponto do Ouro on the mainland (Template:Coord).
On the West. The coast of Southern Africa.

Islands in the channel

Comoros

France

Mozambique

History

On 15 November 1939, under the command of Captain Patrick (Paddy) Dove, the British Coastal Tanker Africa Shell was sailing through the Mozambique Channel en-passage from Quelimane to Lourenço Marques. During the morning, at a point Template:Convert south-southwest from the lighthouse at Cape Zavora, she was spotted by the German Pocket Battleship Template:Ship, under the command of Captain Hans Langsdorff, and which was embarked upon a raiding sortie. Graf Spee ordered the Africa Shell to stop by the firing of a shot across her bow. Having stopped the Africa Shell, a cutter with a boarding party was despatched from Graf Spee and boarded the tanker, the officer in charge addressing Captain Dove in perfect English with the sentence, "Good morning, captain. Sorry; fortunes of war".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The boarding party ordered the ship's crew into their lifeboats before stripping the Africa Shell of all foodstuffs including a small amount of wine. The crew were ordered to row for shore, except for Captain Dove who was taken prisoner on board the Graf Spee. Dove was incensed by the interception of his ship, and complained personally to Langsdorff, citing that the Africa Shell was within Portuguese territorial waters and that the action was in clear violation of international law.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ReferenceD">Template:Cite web</ref> The boarding party set scuttling charges and made their way back to the Graf Spee. The detonation of the charges sank the Africa Shell.

In 1942, the Mozambique Channel was a World War II clashpoint during the Battle of Madagascar.

France is present through Mayotte and the Scattered Islands, and maintains a military presence via Réunion, with naval assets patrolling fairly regularly. These islets provide exclusive economic zones (EEZs), rich in fisheries resources and potentially hydrocarbons. For France, the real challenge is to preserve its sovereignty over Mayotte, vis-à-vis the Comoros, and especially over the Scattered Islands, in the face of Malagasy threats. The Malagasy are legally contesting the French presence, believing that these islets were dependencies of Madagascar and that once independence was achieved, they should have reverted to Madagascar, not to France.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

References

<references> <ref name="brit">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

<ref name="iho">Template:Cite web</ref> </references>

Template:List of African seas Template:List of seas Template:Authority control

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