Five embassies in Maputo, including those of the United States of America (USA), today condemned the double murder of people close to presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, calling for a ‘swift and exhaustive’ investigation into the crime.
‘We, the US Embassy, the Canadian High Commission, the Norwegian Embassy, the Swiss Embassy, the UK High Commission, as part of the international community, join Mozambicans in condemning the murder of Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe and extend our heartfelt condolences to their families and loved ones,’ reads a note published this afternoon by the US diplomatic representation in Maputo.
The Mozambican police confirmed today that the car in which Elvino Dias, a lawyer for presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, and Paulo Guambe, a member of Podemos, the party that supports him, were being shot dead, was ‘ambushed’ and a third occupant injured.
‘They were approached and blocked by two light vehicles from which individuals disembarked who, armed with firearms, fired several shots that caused injuries and the death of the individuals identified above,’ Leonel Muchina, spokesman for the Republic of Mozambique Police (PRM) in Maputo city, told Lusa.
‘We strongly condemn any act of political violence and call for a swift and thorough investigation. We urge all citizens, political leaders, state institutions and interested parties to resolve electoral disputes peacefully and legally, rejecting violence and inflammatory rhetoric,’ adds the note from the five diplomatic representations in Maputo.
The crime took place at around 23:20 local time (one hour less in Lisbon) on Friday, on Avenida Joaquim Chissano, in the centre of the capital, and according to the police another occupant, a woman who was in the back seat of the car, was also shot and was taken to Maputo Central Hospital.
‘She was rescued, there is no risk to her life, she was only wounded in the upper limbs,’ Muchina explained.
Throughout the early hours of the morning, videos circulated in Mozambique of the extreme violence of the two victims and the car, which was apparently hit by more than two dozen shots.
Lawyer Elvino Dias, a well-known defender of human rights cases in Mozambique, was a legal advisor to Venâncio Mondlane and the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), the political grouping that initially supported that candidate for Mozambican President, until his registration for the general elections on 9 October was rejected by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
Venâncio Mondlane was later supported in his candidacy by the party Povo Otimista para o Desenvolvimento de Moçambique (Podemos), whose national representative for the legislative and provincial lists, Paulo Guambe, was also travelling in the car that was the target of the crime.
The general elections on 9 October included the seventh presidential elections – for which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the two-term limit, is no longer running – at the same time as the seventh legislative elections and the fourth elections for provincial assemblies and governors.
The CNE has 15 days after the polls close to announce the official results of the elections, a date that falls on 24 October, after which the Constitutional Council will proclaim the results, once it has also concluded its analysis of any appeals, but with no deadline set for this.
The district and provincial election commissions have already completed the tabulation of the vote in the general elections on 9 October, which according to public announcements give the lead to the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party) and the presidential candidate that the party supports, Daniel Chapo, with more than 60 percent of the vote, although presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane disputes these results, claiming that they are based on the data from the original minutes and notices of the vote, which he collects throughout the country.
Venâncio Mondlane said on Thursday in Beira, the centre of Mozambique, that after the results of the general elections are announced he will appeal to the Constitutional Council with the original minutes and notices of the vote.
The Portuguese government and the European Union have also condemned these murders.
Lusa
