‘Crucial moment’ for Mozambique, opposition leader Mondlane tells AFP

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

‘Crucial moment’ for Mozambique, opposition leader Mondlane tells AFP

12:48 CAT | 07 Nov 2024

Maputo, November 7, 2024. [Screen grab: @michosaa/X]

Mondlane is currently abroad and said he could not attend the march due to safety concerns.

Mozambique is at a “crucial moment”, the African nation’s main opposition leader Venancio Mondlane told AFP in an interview ahead of a protest he has called for later on Thursday.

“I feel that there is a revolutionary atmosphere… that shows that we are on the verge of a unique historical and political transition in the country,” said Mondlane, who is currently abroad and said he could not attend the march due to safety concerns.

The southern African nation has been rocked by violence since an October 9 vote won by the Frelimo party, which has been in power for almost 50 years.

Frelimo’s Daniel Chapo, 47, won the presidential election with 71 percent of the vote, according to the electoral commission, while Mondlane, who is backed by the small Podemos party, came in second with 20 percent.

The 50-year-old former radio presenter said the results were false and that he won, calling for a mass protest on Thursday.

“Our first objective… is certainly the restoration of electoral truth,” Mondlane told AFP on Zoom late on Wednesday. “We want the popular will expressed at the polls on October 9 to be restored.”

He said he was “waging a struggle” with “national” and “historical purpose”.

“People have realised that it wasn’t possible to bring profound change in Mozambique without taking risks” Mondlane said, and that “now they have to free themselves”.

The Mozambique Bar Association (OAM) has said there were “conditions for a bloodbath” on Thursday as heavy security presence was seen deployed across the capital, AFP reporters said.

Situation in the Alto Mae neighbourhood, in Maputo city, police gas a good number of demonstrators who disperse briefly but regroup to continue the march.#MozambiqueProtests pic.twitter.com/XF4v8mp6r9

— Wilker Dias🇲🇿 (@wilkerDias13) November 7, 2024

The use of real bullets by the police is a reality…there are already reports of deaths and injuries.
Images in the videos: Alto Mae #MozambiqueProtests pic.twitter.com/AcSS2Iu8N1

— Wilker Dias🇲🇿 (@wilkerDias13) November 7, 2024

#Mozambique #MozambiqueElections
Av. Maguiguana, em frente ao Centro de Exames Medicos pic.twitter.com/Lj0HYdK7Ys

— Michelle (@michosaa) November 7, 2024

Source: AFP