Thousands of citizens protested once again in Mozambique’s capital over the outcome of the Oct. 9 presidential poll which extended the rule of the Frelimo party. Security forces responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets. Human Rights Watch has said the internet is being restricted and social media sites blocked.
“We are asking to march; the police can march with us. It’s a peaceful march. Nobody came here with weapons, we don’t have weapons, the weapons are with them,” a protester said.
Amnesty International said on Wednesday (Nov. 06) that at least 20 people have died and hundreds more have been injured and arrested since the beginning of the protests in late October, while local groups say the death toll is more than 50. Authorities are threatening to deploy the army as protesters set fires on the streets and burn ruling party offices
Opposition leader, Venancio Mondlane, who came in second in the presidential election has reportedly fled the country. Prominent members of his party were killed before election results were proclaimed.
The opposition has accused the ruling Frelimo of rigging the election in favour of its presidential candidate Daniel Chapo, who was declared the winner with more than 70% of the votes by the national Mozambique Electoral Commission.
Mondlane’s party Podemos had called for a days-long march to culminate in the capital. It also took the vote rigging allegations to court.
EU observers had flagged irregularities and ‘alteration of results’ in Mozambique election. And neighboring South Africa has shut its border post with Mozambique and heightened security around it. The internet is being restricted and social media sites have been blocked, according to Human Rights Watch
SADC is set to discuss the situation during a meeting next week in Zimbabwe.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its main objectives are to achieve economic development, peace and security, and growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of Southern Africa, and support the socially disadvantaged through Regional Integration.
The candidate for the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, was declared the winner of the presidential election on Oct. 24. That keeps the party that has governed Mozambique since independence from Portugal in 1975 in power for another five years.
Even before the results were announced, opposition parties claimed fraud, accusing the ruling party, known as Frelimo, of ballot stuffing, manipulating voter lists and staffing polling stations with officials loyal to it. Frelimo has long been accused of rigging elections in the country of around 34 million.
The European Union’s observer team said there were irregularities in the election, including the altering of some results. Mozambican media has reported that the Constitutional Council, the supreme body for election law, has asked the commission that ran the election to explain discrepancies.
Senior opposition figures were alleged to have been killed. Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, who was second behind Chapo in the official results, has led criticism of the vote. He called for a national strike and for people to stay at home in the days after the election in protest at the alleged tampering. But the mood changed when two senior opposition figures were killed in their car in a late-night shooting by unidentified gunmen on Oct. 18.
The men who were killed were the lawyer for Mondlane and the official spokesperson for the political party that supported Mondlane in the election. Mondlane said they were assassinated and he and opposition supporters gathered near the site of the killings the day after to protest. Police fired tear gas canisters at Mondlane, his aides and journalists who were interviewing him, forcing them to flee. Since then, there have been waves of protests across the country. In one city, protesters toppled and cut the head off a statue of current President Filipe Nyusi, who is stepping down after serving a maximum two terms.
Mondlane said on social media that he had gone into exile in fear for his life after the killing of his lawyer. His whereabouts are unknown, but he has called on social media for more protests “so that we can then be freed from these shackles that have held us up for 50 years.”
