Bernadino Rafael led the force since October 2017 [Bernadino Rafael / Facebook]
The police chief of Mozambique, Bernadino Rafael, was fired after accusations of brutality during the disputed elections of October and its aftermath.
He has denied the claims of prominent opposition figures that he has collaborated with criminal groups in recent months to abduct and kill civilian demonstrators.
The new president of the country, Daniel Chapo, who took office last week, announced the resignation of Rafael on Thursday.
It is the first major security shadow under Chapo’s presidency to date, now that he is under enormous pressure to win the trust of the public and to give the ailing economy a new impulse after months of unrest.
Mozambique is in the grip of one of the worst crises after the elections since independence.
Indignant citizens took to the streets after evidence of election fraud had been overlooked and Frelimo was again named the winning party, extending her almost 50-year regime.
According to social organizations, around 300 people have since died in protests.
Former police chief Rafael said earlier this week that only 96 people had died, including 17 agents.
He says that the dead had attacked police officers who had defended themselves or that they had been hit by lost bullets.
According to the Mozambique Center for Human Rights and Democracy (CDD), agents of the Elite National Investigation Service (Sernic) infiltrated civilian clothing, “Protestmensents to identify and capture the addresses of young participants” and “later performed house invales, often resulting, often resulting, often resulting, often resulting In random arrests and murders “.
Their actions “[turned] Residential areas change into war zones, “says the CDD report, on which Sernic did not comment.
The Mozambique police have also denied claims that she was responsible for shooting two political assistants in broad daylight. Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe worked for Venâncio Mondlane, who claims that he is the real winner of the October elections.
Mondlane led the protests after the elections, despite periods of self -imposed exile for his safety, and he claims that he has been the target of murder at least twice.
Analysts, including Mirna Chitsungo and LuÃs Nhanchote, had told the BBC that President Chapo should dismiss Mr Rafael after his appointment.
After seven years he was fired as a police chief of Mozambique.
President Chapo replaced him by Joaquim Sive, who was previously a police chief for the provinces of Sofala and Nampula.
In 2019, Sive was suspended from his position after at least ten people died after a Frelimo meeting in the 25th Junho Stadium in Nampula.
More BBC stories about Mozambique:
[Getty Images/BBC]
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