Mozambique: Aluta continua in the capital
The army has been deployed to quell unrest as the opposition leader pledges to keep resisting.
Luis Nhachote in Maputo
Several thousand people took to the streets of Maputo on Thursday to continue their protest against the official results of the 9 October presidential election. It was the culmination of what opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane called the “third phase” of the protests.
Mondlane, who is encouraging the protests on regular YouTube live broadcasts watched by millions of people, had called for four million people to march on Maputo on Thursday.
Mondlane left the country shortly after the elections saying he feared for his life. He promised he would return to the country to lead the Thursday march but ultimately did not. He has said that demonstrations will last “until electoral truth is restored”.
The electoral commission announced the winner as Daniel Chapo, from the ruling party Frelimo, with a majority of 70.67%. Frelimo has ruled Mozambique since independence in 1975, without interruption. Opposition parties have alleged massive electoral fraud, and organised nationwide protests that are now entering their third week.
The protests have been most intense in Maputo, Mozambique’s capital. So has the state’s response: between 20 and 50 people have been killed by security forces, according to civil society estimates. The army has been deployed to quell the unrest, so far without success.
On Thursday, The Continent witnessed security forces using tear gas against the protesters, injuring several.
“The police are using tear gas against the people, shooting in any way they can,” said one protester, after an altercation with police. “It’s a real war in Cabo Delgado, and they’re throwing gas? Why don’t they leave the gas? If you want war, come with your hands! Let’s fight! This is war!”
There has been a violent insurrection in the northern Cabo Delgado province since 2017.
“We are demonstrating! Let us through! They’re intimidating us! Let us through! Are they Frelimo police or are they the people’s police?” another protester shouted.
Several shops have been looted in the city, where life has come to a standstill since the vote.
A few of the city’s biggest roads are impassable, thanks to tyres and rubbish bins that have been set alight. Some protesters have also been throwing stones and other objects at security forces, with reports of clashes in most of Maputo’s suburbs as well as the city centre.
The mysterious deaths of key political figures have further destabilised the situation.
Six days before the election result was announced, on 18 October, two of Mondlane’s close allies – lawyer Elvino Dias and campaign manager Paulo Guambe – were killed. Gunmen in two unmarked vehicles opened fire on their SUV late at night on a main road in Maputo. And last Saturday afternoon, the head of the intelligence service, Bernardo Lidimba, was killed in a traffic accident in the southern Gaza province.
An independent television station, STV, reported that a front tyre exploded, causing the car to spin off the road. Three colleagues in the car with Lidimba escaped with minor injuries.
Incumbent President Filipe Nyusi was last seen at Lidimba’s funeral in Pemba on Wednesday.
He has not commented publicly on the unrest. Neither has the president-elect, Daniel Chapo, who has laid low since the announcement of the contested result. The Daily Maverick reported that senior ruling party leaders have moved their families out of Maputo, in case of further trouble.
Amnesty International has called on the government to end the repression, and restore access to internet and social media, which has been repeatedly blocked over the past few weeks.