Mozambique’s security forces conducted a human rights vioaltions, vicious, three-month crackdown on demonstrators following the nation’s election a year ago, a top international rights organization stated, quoting local activists who claimed that over 300 people were killed and over 3,000 were injured in the violence.
In its latest report, Amnesty International urged Mozambican authorities to probe into the killings and all human rights abuses following the election, and to prosecute law enforcement officials accountable.
Thousands of Mozambicans participated in rolling protests during the weeks following the Oct. 9 presidential and parliamentary election, in which Daniel Chapo of Frelimo, the country’s ruling party, was officially declared the winner following complaints of rigging and electoral fraud leveled by his opponents and foreign observers.
The demonstrations were in favor of Venancio Mondlane, who was an independent candidate but had the support of the opposition Podemos party. The protests grew stronger after the October 18 assassination of Mondlane’s lawyer and a Podemos official, who were shot dead by gunmen late at night while they were sitting in a car in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo.
Mondlane condemned the killings as a political assassination and demanded 25 days of demonstrations — a day for every one of the 25 bullets that were used at the car. Mondlane, citing fears for his safety, departed the nation for two months but afterward came back in January.
In the period from October 21 to January 25, Amnesty’s report states, the Mozambique police and army fired on mostly peaceful demonstrations and rallies using lethal force, firing live bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protesters and onlookers.
Amnesty quoted the Mozambican civil society organization Plataforma DECIDE, which stated that 315 individuals lost their lives in the protests from October 21 to January 16 — a figure much higher than those that have been recognized by authorities. The police had stated in January that 96 individuals were killed in the protests in the three-month span, including 17 policemen.
“Police used firearms and less lethal weapons unlawfully, killing and injuring protesters and bystanders,”
Amnesty added.
“The army also used force and less lethal weapons unlawfully and irresponsibly.”
Amnesty stated that it relied on interviews with 28 individuals, including eyewitnesses, victims, relatives of victims, doctors and lawyers. Other human rights organizations have reported at least 10 children were among the protesters killed.
Police made large-scale arrests of protesters and passersby, including minors, Amnesty reported. Plataforma DECIDE reported that over 4,000 individuals were arrested, the majority of them arbitrarily.
Amnesty further stated that it has evidence indicating Mozambican internet service providers blocked access to social network sites like Facebook and Instagram and the messaging application WhatsApp “at critical moments during the demonstrations.” In January, Chapo was inaugurated president. He and Mondlane had a meeting in March where they tried mediation, with the president vowing to investigate deaths during the protests.
The Frelimo party has governed Mozambique since it gained independence from Portugal, its colonial master in 1975, and has repeatedly been accused of manipulating elections by appointing officials beholden to it to administer elections. An election observer report by the European Union stated last year’s election was tainted by intentional invalidation of opposition ballots and tampering with polling results and ballot box stuffing for Frelimo.
Mozambican politics have been shaped primarily by a 15-year civil war between Frelimo and rebel movement Renamo, which concluded in 1992, with the rebel movement later transforming into an opposition party. The protests for Mondlane, a former member of the Renamo party, were the biggest threat to Frelimo’s leadership.
Protests subsided after the crackdown but violence continues. Mondlane this week traveled to the port city of Quelimane, where gunmen on Sunday attacked one of his top campaign organizers, Joel Amaral. He was shot three times, once in the head, but survived and is still in an intensive care unit in the hospital.