CIP Mozambique Elections: Appeal to UN for intervention of stop killing of protestors

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CIP Mozambique Elections: Appeal to UN for intervention of stop killing of protestors

7:27 CAT | 13 Jan 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: NDTV World]

CIP and Plataforma Decide request UN and Council of Europe intervention to halt murder of protesters and escalation of violence

Plataforma Decide and CIP have appealed to the UN and Council of Europe to intervene in Mozambique. They say this will be will be crucial to avoid a new escalation of violence in the coming days. They are asking the UN, Council of Europe, and other relevant bodies to take energetic measures, “as they has done in relation to other countries”, to avoid more murders of citizens by the police.

They are also appealing to the these organisations to support an inclusive political dialogue for a sustainable solution that takes into account the interests of the Mozambican people. (Appeal to UN is HERE ).

The organisations explain that that the reaction of the government and of other state authorities against the population “was extremely reprehensible, marked by serious violations of human rights, including murder, torture and forced disappearances – attacks that have been constantly transmitted across the globe”.

In letters to the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres, the president of the Council of Europe, António Costa, and a third to the International Republican Institute (IRI), the organizations denounced the state authorities for reducing political dissidence to acts of vandalism, crime and terrorism, depriving the demonstrators of their human dignity and of their political rights. Also, they pointed out that members of civil society and opposition politicians are regularly intimidated and threatened with death, and many have indeed been killed in recent weeks.

They say that several appeals for political dialogue were made before the Constitutional Council announced the results, which could have avoided the deaths of more than 140 people in three days. But “unfortunately this was not regarded as a priority”. They accused President Filipe Nyusi of holding several meetings during the crisis, “but without an agenda, and without creating conditions for the main actors in political society to take part in them. They merely served to deceive the international community and to prolong the crisis”.

They warned that the approaching investiture of the new President could boost the escalation of violence. They thus urge the UN, Council of Europe, and IRI to take “vigorous and urgent measures that can play a relevant role in the current crisis, showing their commitment to the defence of human rights and democracy in Africa, just as it has been done in relation to other countries, rather than waiting for the situation to worsen before taking an assertive position.”

Since the start of demonstrations on 19 October, almost 300 demonstrators have been killed, 80% of them shot by the police. 4,201 people have been detained, more than 3,000 have been injured, and more than 20 protestors are missing.

Source: Centro de Integridade Pública - CIP Eleições