Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday that the security situation in northern Mozambique, the scene of rebel attacks since 2016, had “improved significantly” but pointed to abuses by the military in its annual human rights report released today.
“The security situation in northern Mozambique has improved significantly, with many displaced people returning to their areas of origin in the districts most affected by the conflict with the armed group linked to Islamic State,” said HRW’s annual report.
The report recalled that the authorities announced the death of the alleged leader of the terrorist group operating in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, last August but that it “continues to operate in the districts of Macomia and Mocímboa da Praia”.
“Members of the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique [SAMIM] have been implicated in the mutilation and other ill-treatment of the dead in Cabo Delgado,” HRW also stated.
The document noted that the improvement in security conditions on the ground, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has allowed 420,000 internally displaced people to return to their areas of origin but warned that “many more remain displaced due to ongoing violence”.
“Access to basic needs, including food, water, shelter, healthcare and education continued to be a challenge for many returnees who were faced with massive destruction in their areas of origin,” it pointed out.
HRW also criticised the behaviour of the military in Cabo Delgado, recalling that “members of SAMIM were implicated in abuses during their operations” in the northern province of Mozambique.
“In January, a video appeared on social media showing South African soldiers, who are part of the SAMIM forces, shooting dead bodies in a pile of burning rubble. International humanitarian law prohibits mutilation and other ill-treatment of the dead. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) condemned the acts and announced an investigation but has not yet provided any updates on the investigation,” the organisation wrote.
The organisation also said that the government had authorised the operations of a militia to fight the insurgent groups, “composed largely of demobilised soldiers”, which operates “without supervision, responsibility or legal mandate”.
The report also focused on the violence related to the local elections on 11 October, which were “marked by violence and serious irregularities, leading district courts to order a repeat vote or a recount of votes in many municipalities”.
“After the elections, police clashed with opposition party members across the country,” said HRW, emphasising the police’s use of “excessive force” and tear gas “against opposition crowds of Renamo [the largest opposition party] supporters”.
“State security forces continued to use lethal force and arbitrary measures, arrest and detention to limit people’s right to peaceful protest throughout the country,” HRW pointed out, recalling the police intervention during the funeral of rapper Azagaia in March, with several arrests, not only in Maputo.
It also said that in the last year, “freedom of peaceful assembly and association” had been “under pressure” in Mozambique and that the government submitted a bill on non-profit organisations for parliamentary approval, “which would allow excessive government interference in NGOs, including the authority to close down an organisation”, claiming that the legislation was intended to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
The report also concluded that kidnappings continue to affect Mozambique and that the police “are unable to investigate the cases”, with reports of “complicity” by officers, lawyers, magistrates “and other figures in the judiciary”, which “creates weaknesses in the investigation”.
Lusa
