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60610E DRUGS: BARCLAYS CONFIRMS PULLOUT

Maputo, 15 Jun (AIM) - The London-based Barclays Bank has become the
first tenant of the Maputo Shopping Centre to formally announce the
closure of its branch there.

A statement published by Barclays on Tuesday announced that the branch
will be "permanently closed" as from 23 June.

All accounts held in the branch are transferred to another branch in
downtown Maputo, in Joaquim Lapa Avenue, about five minutes walk away.
The bank assures its customers that their account numbers will remain
unchanged, and that all the services available at the Shopping Centre
branch are also available at Joaquim Lapa.

The decision to close the branch follows the designation by US President
Barack Obama of the man who owns the Shopping Centre, Mohamed Bachir
Suleman, as a drugs baron. Obama named Bachir on 1 June, under the US
"Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act" of 1999.

As a result, Bachir and his companies - the MBS Group, the Kayum Centre
and the Maputo Shopping Centre - are now under US financial sanctions.
No US citizens, companies or other institutions may have any
transactions with them.

Although the US sanctions do not directly affect those shops,
restaurants or banks that hire space from Bachir, Barclays is taking
clear steps to dissociate itself from Bachir and to protect the bank's
reputation.

It remains to be seen how many of the other tenants in the Maputo
Shopping Centre will follow in its footsteps.
(AIM)