CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Thousands protested in Mozambique’s capital Thursday and security forces responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets as weeks of post-election unrest continued in the southern African country.
The protests were sparked by a vote last month that will keep the ruling party in power for more than half a century, amid accusations of rigging.
Opposition parties and many citizens have rejected the results of the October 9 presidential election as fraudulent and growing protests in the capital Maputo and other cities have been met with deadly police violence. Thursday’s protest was the largest yet.
International rights groups say at least 20 people have been killed by police since the unrest began almost a month ago, while local groups say the death toll is more than 50. Authorities threaten to deploy the army as demonstrators burn and burn the streets. offices of the ruling party.
According to Human Rights Watch, the internet is restricted and social media sites are blocked. Neighboring country South Africa has closed its border post with Mozambique and increased security around it.
What happened at the elections?
The candidate for the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, was declared the winner of the presidential election on October 24. This means that the party that has governed Mozambique since its independence from Portugal in 1975 will remain in power for another five years.
Even before the results were announced, opposition parties alleged fraud and accused the ruling party, known as Frelimo, of ballot tampering, manipulating voter lists and staffing polling stations with officials loyal to it. Frelimo has long been accused of manipulating elections in the country with approximately 34 million inhabitants.
The European Union observer team said there were irregularities in the election, including the changing of some results. Mozambican media have reported that the Constitutional Council, the highest body for electoral law, has asked the commission that conducted the elections to explain the discrepancies.
Senior opposition members murdered
Independent candidate Venancio Mondlane, who came second to Chapo in the official results, has led criticism of the vote. He called for a national strike and urged people to stay home in the days after the election to protest the alleged tampering. But the mood changed when two leading opposition figures were killed in their car in a late-night shooting by unknown gunmen on October 18.
The men who died were Mondlane’s lawyer and the official spokesperson for the political party that supported Mondlane in the elections. Mondlane said they had been killed and that he and opposition supporters gathered at the site of the killings to protest the day after. Police fired tear gas canisters at Mondlane, his aides and journalists interviewing him, forcing them to flee.
Increasing protests
Since then, there have been waves of protests across the country. In one city, protesters toppled and cut off a statue of current President Filipe Nyusi, who is stepping down after a maximum of two terms in office.
Mondlane said on social media that he had gone into exile out of fear for his life after the murder of his lawyer. His whereabouts are unknown, but he has taken to social media to call for more protests “so we can be freed from the chains that have held us for fifty years.”
Authorities have said little other than that the protests were violent and should be suppressed. They did not provide information on the number of deaths or injuries in the protests.
Rights groups accused police of firing on peaceful protests in the days after the election and said children were among the victims. Anger among opposition supporters has increased. The presidential palace is heavily guarded.
A history of civil war and violence
Mozambique is still in the shadow of a bloody fifteen-year civil war. After independence, the left-wing Frelimo fought against the rebel group Renamo. The country did not hold its first elections until 1994, and this was the first vote in which there were no armed groups linked to political parties after a process to disarm militias.
The country, which has rich natural resources including large, newly discovered natural gas fields, had been struggling with a years-long insurgency by an Islamic State-affiliated group in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
Mondlane, who broke away from Renamo, enjoys support among Mozambique’s disaffected youth and he and the new Podesa party that backs him have become the biggest challenge to Frelimo’s long rule.
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