PREVIEW
Anger is rising as civic activists say police have killed over 130 protestors and the Constitutional Council prepares to rule on disputed election
Mozambique’s police crossed a previously unthinkable line on 14 December when they opened fire on mourners after the funeral of 30-year-old Albino José Sibia, known as ‘Mano Shottas’. A video-blogger, Sibia was shot by a heavily-armed elite police unit, the Unidade de Intervenção Rápida (UIR), as he was broadcasting live on Facebook on 12 December amid protests in Ressano Garcia, near the border with South Africa.
Police shot Sibia in the back as he pleaded with them, warning that there were children in the houses they were targeting with tear gas. He continued filming despite his injury. His last words uttered into his phone were: ‘Can’t film anymore. I have been shot guys. Help! I am dying guys!’
The attack on his funeral left at least two people dead and several injured. One of those seriously hurt was part of a media team who had been filming the funeral. Strip Pedrito was shot as he filmed police action from among nearby houses. His escape to South Africa through the bush after continued police gunfire barred the way to the local hospital was live streamed by his colleagues from a local TV station. Footage on social media, distributed by opposition leader’s Venâncio Mondlane’s VM7 channel, suggests police were targeting journalists in the area.
Protestors have been gathering at Ressano Garcia to block the passage of trucks from South Africa. They have targeted trucks owned by Minister of Public Works Carlos Mesquita who transports chrome mined in South Africa to Maputo.
Mesquita’s trucks are a target both because he is a close ally of Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) President Filipe Nyusi and because activists say that effluent from the chrome mines is polluting the Inkomati River, which flows into Mozambique from South Africa.
These clashes are part of the widening protest movement following the disputed 9 October elections (AC Vol 65 No 22, Activists organise national protests as Frelimo claims victory & Vol 65 No 23, All roads lead to Maputo). The government has lost control over key parts of the country, with activists proclaiming a popular uprising. Civic groups say the latest death toll is over 130, with more than 2,000 injured and 3,500 detained. Hospitals are overwhelmed with gunshot victims and are running out of space.
On the same day that Sibia was shot, President Nyusi was meeting young Mozambicans, trying to dampen the protests. One of the group was a young ‘influencer’, Nadio Taimo, who describes himself as a ‘human rights defender.’ ‘What worries me is the number of dead’, Taimo told Nyusi at the meeting. Taimo said he was working on the register of the dead and that he had ‘data, photos, family contacts, of these people who were shot during these demonstrations.’ Nyusi then interrupted, ‘…how many police?’
Taimo said they had records of ten police, then returned to his point. ‘But what worries me is the way these people lost their lives.’ Some of the police were trying to break up the protests, he said, but: ‘Above all we have agents who circulate in our local areas, who do not shoot to disperse, they shoot to kill.’
The opposition independent presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and his associated party, Partido Otimista pelo Desinvolvimento de Moçambique (Podemos) contest the Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE) declaration of a landslide win for Frelimo and its candidate Daniel Chapo (AC Vol 65 No 21, Wild card Mondlane tests ruling party’s election tactics, Mondlane’s vote surge overturns the status quo, Evidence of vote stealing mounts & Vol 65 No 22, Profile: Mondlane takes opposition personally), citing massive rigging and forged tabulation sheets. They have submitted documents from their parallel count to support their claim.
Mondlane has called on his supporters to mourn Sibia and others who have been shot dead but to resume mass action against the government if the Conselho Constitucional (CC) confirms Frelimo’s disputed landslide victory on 23 December.
Protestors have been urging the CC to heed the ‘fury of the people’ before rubber-stamping Frelimo’s victory. CC President Lúcia Ribeiro holds what opposition Movimento Democrático de Moçambique (MDM) politician Albano Carige, the popular Mayor of Beira, calls ‘a bomb in her hands’ as the CC ruling date draws nearer. Carige warns that if the CC announces a Frelimo victory on 23 December, ‘there will be a war’. Members on the CC claim they have received death threats but don’t reveal the source.
Mondlane is orchestrating the protests via live broadcasts on social media. He fled Mozambique after the assassination of his lawyer, Elvino Dias, and Podemos colleague, Paulo Guambe (AC Vol 65 No 22, Fears mount as election row escalates). Mondlane claimed that he has faced two assassination attempts while in hiding in South Africa.
He did not return to Maputo on 7 November for what he originally billed as the culmination of the protests (Dispatches 12/11/24, Mondlane’s protests face critical moment following mass demonstrations in Maputo). Roads were blocked by security forces and the fragmented crowds failed to reach a critical mass.
Protests resumed with new vigour after a brief lull. Now Mondlane says he will return to Maputo for his own inauguration on 15 January. His supporters reacted jubilantly, tearing down Frelimo flags and celebrating, including in Nacala-a-Velha, where Chapo was formerly the government administrator.
Amid escalating violence, flights leaving Maputo in early December were packed with panicking expatriates. Protests include everything from national strikes, blocking of roads, and banging of pots and pans to the burning of public and private buildings. A woman set up her sewing machine in the middle of a major road, while others played chess to disrupt traffic. Support is not confined to poorer voters, the middle class are joining in. Many lined up outside the President’s house to sound their car horns and show their disgust.
So far, Mondlane has been urging protestors to abjure violence. But people are retaliating when attacked by police. Sometimes, they chase the police away; on other occasions, they have attacked officers who have shot protestors. Police stations, Frelimo buildings and the homes of party officials have been set ablaze. Banks, courts, customs buildings, and businesses thought to be connected to members of Frelimo have been targeted.
On 7 December, two generating stations at the South African border shut down after protestors threatened to destroy them, cutting power in Zambia and Maputo. The state electricity company, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), agreed to connect 2,000 homes to the grid to reach a ‘consensus’ with the protestors.
The protestors fall into three distinct groups: those marching on the streets; those protesting from the safety of their homes; and a violent faction that disregards Mondlane’s instructions. This latter group protests outside the times approved by the opposition campaigners, often late into the night, destroying property and looting.
Mondlane has distanced himself from the violence, blaming it on ‘infiltrators’ sent by Frelimo. Civic activists acknowledge this but are blaming protestors for some of the violence. Neither Frelimo nor Mondlane seem able to control the escalating confrontation.
Much of the violence is attributed to the police, especially the UIR. The army has shown relative restraint; some soldiers appeared to side with the protestors, helping them to block roads. Frelimo insiders admit that the party was losing support in the military, due to delays in salary payments.
That’s why soldiers received their overdue salaries and a pay rise on 8 December. Civic activists say the state is trying to buy their loyalty. Mondlane’s supporters draw parallels with Syria; similar tactics were used just before the fall of the Assad regime.
Mozambique’s Centro para Democracia e Direitos Humanos (CDD) has been documenting police abuses. Videos show police shooting at groups of school children. Security forces have rained down tear gas and bullets from helicopters onto the townships. Tear gas has also been fired into health clinics and homes. Communities say they face attacks from the forces meant to protect them.
Police chief Bernardino Rafael blames violence on the protestors, claiming that police shoot to ‘disperse’ and protect other citizens’ rights. Eyewitness accounts supported by citizens’ videos paint a different picture.
The CDD accuses police of ‘summary executions’ of people shot dead ‘in cold blood,’ including young men shot in the back of the head while posing no evident threat to public order. CDD’s investigations into the feared Serviço Nacional de Investigação Crimina (SERNIC) confirmed that officials infiltrated protests in plain clothes to identify individuals, later visiting their homes and ‘turning residential areas into war zones’ by carrying out ‘arbitrary arrests and killings’.
It blames 12 out of 26 Maputo deaths at the start of the protests on SERNIC’s night-time raids, describing these actions as ‘a state-sponsored terror policy’. On 27 November, soldiers drove an armoured vehicle at high speed into a peaceful crowd on a main road in central Maputo. Maria Matisse was run over and sustained serious head injuries. The United States, British, Canadian, Norwegian and Swiss embassies issued a joint statement condemning ‘the escalation of violence against civilians,’ noting that the vehicle had ‘accelerated towards a group of people’.
The anti-corruption watchdog, the Centro de Integridade Pública (CIP) costs the damage from the protests at around US$400 million so far. South Africa is also suffering, its Road Freight Association called for state intervention on 9 December due to the disruptions, estimating a daily loss of R10m ($555,145). Businesses across the Southern African Development Community are being hit by the loss of access to Maputo port.
Within Mozambique, supply chain disruptions are causing food shortages and inflation. In weeks, the price of a box of tomatoes at Maputo’s central market has almost tripled.
The economy is hanging by a thread. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects by TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil worth over $50 billion of investment are being delayed.
A debt default is looking more likely. Mozambique’s finances haven’t stabilised since some $2bn of hidden loans were uncovered in 2016 for fraudulent security contracts organised by top Frelimo officials – Nyusi was Defence Minister at the time – along with Franco-Lebanese shipbuilders Privinvest, Credit Suisse and Russia’s VTB Bank (AC Vol 64 No 20, Secret deal won't end the tuna bond saga). Mozambican activists say that economy-wrecking heist clearly showed Frelimo’s degeneration from its revolutionary anti-colonial roots to a cabal of crony capitalists.
FRELIMO STRUGGLES TO FIND A WAY OUT
The ruling Frente de Libertação de Moçambique (Frelimo) party has been slow to grasp the severity of the crisis as have many western companies and governments. Frelimo hardliners still insist their presidential candidate Daniel Chapo won a landslide in the 9 October elections – contrary to the line of almost all opposition parties. It blames the spiralling protests on a bitter opposition and unspecified external meddlers. The government’s plan of waiting for the protestors to tire isn’t working.
The toppling of a statue of outgoing President Filipe Nyusi last month is hugely significant (AC Vol 65 No 23, All roads lead to Maputo). Also felled was a statue of General Alberto Chipande, Frelimo’s octogenarian war hero who is said to have fired the first shot in the liberation war with Portugal. On 6 December, it was dragged through the streets of Pemba while children beat it with sticks.
Mock graves, labelled with the names of Frelimo’s elite, are a common sight on the roads. Protestors tell passing vehicles, including the army, to water the flowers. Other videos show protestors encouraging police to hit Frelimo effigies with sticks. It is unclear whether the soldiers and police sympathise with the cause – or fear the mob.
Nyusi has remained intransigent. He is inaugurating projects while the country burns. Founding member of Frelimo Helder Martins is one of the few senior politicians to speak out: insisting that blame for the crisis lies entirely with Frelimo’s current leaders.
Frelimo moderates blame the party hierarchy and restrictive procedures that concentrate power in the hands of the president. Convening a formal meeting of the 250-strong Central Committee to discuss the crisis is difficult. It requires approval from the dinosaurs on the 19-member Political Commission, including Nyusi himself.
Fearing that such a meeting of the Central Committee will demand his removal as party leader, Nyusi has been trying to block it. Frelimo’s old guard believe no other party has the right to govern. Chapo’s silence is prompting more questions about the leadership.
As the protests spread, Frelimo supporters are barely visible. The Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE) says Chapo won 70% of the vote. But Frelimo’s victory march in Maputo on 23 November, twice delayed over fears of poor attendance, provoked ridicule. ‘There go the 70%,’ shouted onlookers as they filmed the sparse Frelimo groups. Local journalists say Frelimo found people in the street and paid them to attend.
Some of the fiercest protests broke out in Frelimo’s strongholds. Gaza province, where the CNE recorded an implausible 100% voter turnout in some areas, erupted into protests on 29 November in the capital, Xai Xai. The following day, the city’s power and water was cut off. Civic activists say it was ordered by Frelimo to punish the dissidents. Minister of Interior Pascoal Ronda threatened on 3 December to use ‘all means’ possible to quash protests but that fuelled larger demonstrations. Rioters burned the Frelimo headquarters in Xai Xai.
On 7 December, the Frelimo strongholds of Chibuto and Chokwe went up in flames. Many buildings were destroyed. The Pamodzi Hotel, which protestors say has links to former President Joaquim Chissano, was burned down. They also broke into the prison, releasing 80 prisoners. In Chokwe, the riots were so prolonged that police ran out of bullets.
Faced with this political impasse, some are calling for a transitional government of national unity, with votes transparently recounted, or a military takeover. The Central Committee might try to resolve the crisis via a political settlement, reallocating some seats to opposition parties while preserving Frelimo’s majority. But many warn that attempts to justify a Frelimo victory would provoke more anger. More nervous Frelimo cadres are already planning their exits, we hear.
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