The special envoy of the President of Malawi, Khumbize Chiponda, on Monday defended the need for stability and peace in Mozambique, in the face of a post-election period marked by demonstrations of protest and violence over the last two months.
‘It was my mission to convey to the [Mozambican] President that we in Malawi remain committed to supporting Mozambique. When Mozambique has peace and stability, so do we in Malawi. That’s why we lend our support to the people of Mozambique and also to say that the peace and stability that the Mozambican people have enjoyed must be maintained,’ said President Lazarus Chakwera’s special envoy.
Khumbize Chiponda was received this morning by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi at the Presidency of the Republic in Maputo, where she stressed the ‘importance’ of Mozambique for the neighbouring country, in terms of security and also the import and export of goods.
‘I am very pleased that the President of Mozambique has stressed that they are doing everything they can to say that peace and calm are fully restored,’ said Khumbize Chiponda, speaking to journalists after meeting with Nyusi, recalling the “very special relationship” between the two neighbouring countries.
Clashes between the police and demonstrators contesting the results of the Mozambican general elections on 9 October have left almost 300 people dead and almost 600 shot, according to civil society organisations monitoring the process.
Mozambique’s Constitutional Council (CC) has officially set 15 January as the date for the inauguration of the new President of the Republic, who will succeed Filipe Nyusi.
On 23 December, the CC, the final court of appeal in electoral disputes, proclaimed Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo), as the winner of the election for President of the Republic, with 65.17% of the votes, succeeding Filipe Nyusi in office, as well as the victory of Frelimo, which retained its parliamentary majority, in the general elections on 9 October.
Daniel Chapo, touted by Frelimo as a ‘young proposal’ and who will be the first head of state born after independence, will take over the Mozambican presidency in the year in which the country marks 50 years of independence, a period marked in the meantime by the greatest contestation of electoral results since the first elections in 1994.
His election is, however, being contested on the streets, and the CC’s announcement has added to the chaos that the country has been experiencing since October, with pro-Venâncio Mondlane demonstrators – a candidate who according to the Constitutional Council obtained only 24% of the votes, but who claims victory – in protests demanding the ‘restoration of electoral truth, with barricades, looting and clashes with the police, who have been firing shots in an attempt to demobilise them. In addition to Venâncio Mondlane, supported by the Podemos party, on his way to Ponta Vermelha (the official residence of the President of the Republic), Chapo faced Ossufo Momade (who got 6.62%), leader and supported by the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the main opposition force, and Lutero Simango (who got 4.02%), supported and president of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique.
Lusa
