The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition force, on Thursday, promised to open criminal proceedings against the police who fired tear gas at the mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo, and the local population on Wednesday.
‘The police were irresponsible and need to be held criminally responsible and we will not let this pass. Those who carried out these actions against the population have been identified and Renamo will do everything it can to bring those who killed defenceless people before national and international courts,’ promised Renamo spokesman Marcial Macome.
At a press conference, he said that ‘firing on people cannot be tolerated’, promising that the party will use ‘legal means’ to hold the police forces involved accountable.
‘We condemn these macabre, inhumane and senseless acts of state and we want to say that all those involved in Quelimane [Zambezia province, in the centre] as well as in other parts of the country will be held accountable,’ he said.
The mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo, a Renamo cadre, confirmed that the police fired tear gas at him and the population on Wednesday with the intention of putting an end to ‘peaceful marches’ in the municipality.
‘They blocked us, they fired tear gas in front of us, they fired gas behind us, to our left, and they fired gas to our right,’ said the mayor of Quelimane in a statement sent to Lusa.
Mozambican police forces dispersed the population of Quelimane, using tear gas, in response to the call for marches by Renamo against the election results of 9 October, which would culminate in the mayor of Quelimane being received at the local airport after a visit abroad.
Mozambique, and especially Maputo, has been experiencing stoppages of activities and demonstrations called since 21 October by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise the results of the general elections, announced by the CNE and which gave victory to Daniel Chapo and the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party).
Mondlane called for a new period of national demonstrations in Mozambique, starting this Wednesday in all the provincial capitals, including Maputo, and extending to the ports, the country’s borders, and the transport corridors linking these infrastructures, calling on truck drivers to join in contesting the electoral process.
The commander-general of the Republic of Mozambique Police (PRM), Bernardino Rafael, said on Tuesday that the demonstrations and stoppages must be ‘stopped’, saying that they are ‘urban terrorism’ with the intention of ‘altering the constitutional order’.
On Tuesday, Mozambican businessmen estimated that 24.8 billion meticais (354 million euros) had been lost during 10 days of stoppages and demonstrations, during which 151 business units were vandalised.
The Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened 208 criminal cases to hold the ‘moral and material’ perpetrators of the violence in the post-election demonstrations responsible, the Attorney General’s Office also announced on Tuesday, blaming presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane.
Lusa
