Nampula: MDM member killed on first day of election campaigning

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Nampula: MDM member killed on first day of election campaigning

12:01 CAT | 11 Jan 2018

DW / Carlos Saide, MDM candidate for the Nampula by-election

Mozambican Democratic Movement (MDM) member Buana Agostinho Buana was killed on the evening of the first day of campaigning (Tuesday January 9), after posting pamphlets for MDM candidate Carlos Saide.

Yesterday, on the second day of the election campaign in Nampula, members of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) ceased activities to join the family of Buana Agostinho Buana, who was murdered on Tuesday night by persons unknown in the Macondes field area, in Nampula’s Namutequeliua neighbourhood, while participating in his party’s campaign.

The MDM condemned his murder, ascribing to it political motives aimed at weakening the party.

According to sources in the MDM, Buana, a motor-taxi driver, had just finished pasting up party posters when he was allegedly contacted by unidentified persons requesting a ride on Tuesday night.

The mother of the victim, Tina Mário, who is also president of the MDM Women’s League in the Namutequeliua neighbourhood in Nampula, told DW Africa: “He came home around 6:00 p.m. but said he had to go out again, because some people had phoned him saying that they needed a taxi. We waited for him until about midnight, when three men stopped in the road near my house. I asked them to come closer, because it was night already, and when they approached, they said that they were coming to inform me that my son had been killed.”

MDM members “shaken”

Mosambik Luciano Tarieque MDM-Delegierter in der Stadt Nampula (DW/S. Lutxeque) — Luciano Tarieque, delegate of MDM in the city of Nampula

Nampula MDM delegate Luciano Tarieque said that the news of the death of a party member had left party members sad and shaken. According to him, the case was one more attack against his political party.

“We have learned that the son of the president of the Women’s League of the Namutequeiua neighbourhood has been murdered. This news has left all MDM members shaken, not only because we are in the middle of the election campaign, but because we lost a man and a person who was backing the development of this country,” he said.

Although he did not accuse any one person or political party, Tarieque attributed the murder to political motives, with the purpose of weakening his party. He said the loss of an MDM member “means a loss, a gap, a pain for the party, and above all, a difficult phase we are facing”. “In the past, a lot happened in the MDM. Perhaps people are thinking that acts of this nature weaken the MDM, but we are a party that works with faith, trust in God and the traditions of the state and of families.”

Tarieque assured the victim’s next of kin of full support and called for the intervention of the authorities to ensure that the election was not tainted with such incidents.

Police unaware of the case

Nampula police spokesman Zacarias Nacute reported by telephone that the police had not been notified of the case.
“So far we have not had any complaints. But I’ll find out later, I’ll give you some feedback,” he said.

Police in Nampula have recently announced that they would be ready to control and combat crime during the by-election, which started on Tuesday and ends on the 21st, with voting on the 24th.

Also Read: Criticism and accusations mark the beginning of by-election campaign

Nampula municipality has been governed by the MDM since the municipal elections in 2013. The mayor elected in this vote will only rule until October 10, 2018, when local elections will take place throughout the country.

Source: Deutsche Welle