Mozambique: Insurgents in some areas trying to gain public trust - village residents
Lusa (File)
The Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM), the country’s third largest political party, has accused Frelimo, the ruling party, of political opportunism, for suggesting it arranged the assassination of the president of Nampula municipality, in the north of the country.
Speaking to Lusa in Maputo, MDM spokesman Fernando Bismarque said that Frelimo’s accusations constituted an abuse of the issue for political point-scoring, claiming that the ruling party itself might have an interest in the death of Mahamudo Amurane.
“It is a political exploitation on the part of Frelimo. Frelimo itself is an interested party in the death of Amurane,” Bismarque said.
The MDM spokesman recalled statements by Frelimo’s secretary-general, Fernando Faustino, that the ruling party would do all in its power to take municipalities that were in the hands of the opposition.
“Faustino said that the [Frelimo] comrades could not sleep for wanting to seize the municipalities at all costs. And five days later, Mayor Amurane was murdered,” he said.
Bismarque stated that the differences between the MDM and Mahamudo Amurane could not be the only lines of police investigation into the murder.
“There is no relationship between the political upheavals [between the MDM and Mahamudo Amurane] and what happened,” said Fernando Bismarque.
The MDM questioned the government on the state of the investigations into the death of Mahamudo Amurane during parliamentary questions, prompting several Frelimo deputies to accuse the leadership of the third largest party directly of involvement in the murder.
Mahamudo Amurane publicly disagreed with the leadership of his party, which he accused of scheming to divert resources from the municipality to MDM activities.
The victim even dubbed MDM president Daviz Simango a dictator, and announced that he would run for a second term in the 2018 municipal elections as an independent.
In response to the MDM question, Justice Minister Isac Chande said on Tuesday in parliament that six people had been officially named suspects on evidence of their involvement in the killing.
Mahamudo Amurane was fatally shot at his residence in Nampula on October 4.
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