Mozambique: Mondlane announces agreement with President on ending violence – Watch

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Mozambique: Mondlane announces agreement with President on ending violence – Watch

7:00 CAT | 25 Mar 2025

Screen grab: Venâncio Mondlane /Facebook

Former Mozambique presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane on Monday announced that he had reached an agreement with the Head of State to bring the violence in the country to an end as of yesterday, including violence against police and members of the governing Frelimo party, as well as on guarantees of medical assistance for those injured during protests.

“Daniel Chapo has taken on the responsibility to endeavour, with the Mozambican State, to ensure that this violence that comes from the State, that comes from the police, that comes from the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR), from the Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), this violence must be stopped,” declared Mondlane, in a live broadcast on his official Facebook page.

“Venâncio Mondlane, who is speaking to you today, has taken on the responsibility to come and tell the people. in this live that the violence inflicted against the UIR, against SERNIC, against members of Frelimo, against others who don’t agree with us must also stop,” he added.

The President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, who is also the leader of Frelimo, met on Sunday with Mondlane – who the official results of October’s presidential elections placed a distant second to Chapo – to “discuss solutions to the challenges facing the country,” his office announced in the early hours of Monday morning.

In a statement, the Presidency explained that the meeting – the first between the two to be made public after the start of the street protests that followed the general elections on 9 October – took place in Maputo and was part of “the ongoing effort to promote national stability and strengthen the commitment to reconciliation and the unity of Mozambicans.”.

“A commitment not to murder Mozambicans was undertaken,” Mondlane said yesterday. “Whether they are Mozambicans from trench A or trench B, we are committed to ending the violence. Let us [agree] that today the violence stops between both parties.”

Mondlane also said that there was a consensus with the President on guarantees of free medical care and medication for all those who were injured during the post-election protests, including police officers and members of the Frelimo party, mainly from gunshot wounds.

“People who were killed, were assassinated, who have families, need to be compensated,” he said. “Children, adults, old people – lives have been lost. You have to give social assistance to these people, give compensation to these families.

“Daniel Chapo said, and I agreed: he said that we should provide psychological assistance and I agree,” said Mondlane.

The former presidential candidate also said that he had reached a consensus with Chapo to grant pardons to detainees in the context of the protests.

“Is this what the people want or don’t want?” he asked in his Facebook live. “Is this against Mozambique? Is this good for the people or not?”

He also announced that teams were being set up to draft the document outlining the consensus reached.

“All kinds of persecution on both sides, we reached a consensus that this must stop, it must stop,” Mondlane reiterated.

Since October, Mozambique has been wracked by widespread social unrest, with demonstrations and stoppages mostly called by Mondlane, who has continued to reject the official election results.

The demonstrations, which have in recent weeks been on a smaller scale, continue to take place in different parts of the country, with people not only contesting the election results but protesting about the rising cost of living and other social problems.

Since October, at least 361 people have died in the violence, including around two dozen minors, according to Plataforma Eleitoral Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes.

The government has confirmed the deathsof at least 80 people, as well as the destruction of 1,677 commercial establishments, 177 schools and 23 health centres during the demonstrations.

Source: Lusa