“Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth” in Mozambique

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“Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth” in Mozambique

3:22 CAT | 14 Apr 2016

DW / A view of Beira city

There are political motives behind the death of senior Renamo member Jose Manuel, analysts say, and the murder of the Defence and Security Council member is an “eye for an eye” response to attacks by Renamo.

According to Jaime Macuane, if this scenario continues, it could lead to larger-scale confrontations in Mozambique.

“It becomes more and more impossible for one to presume that if this pattern is being systematically adopted there will come a time when everything will stop. No. It was like this with Cistac, it was like this with Pauo Machava,” the academic says.

Macuane says this type of murder is gaining a foothold in the country.

“We have here a force, we do not know what, at least formally, but it has the power to execute Mozambicans. So this is not going to fade off into nothing. So it is worrying and, in my opinion, an authoritary manner of solving the confict.”

An eye for an eye

Journalist Fernando Lima believes that the government and Renamo are simply following an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” policy.

“If Renamo gives itself the right to go to the road and shoot and kill people on the other side there is also the same right to knock on the door of the house of a Renamo member in the dead of the night and shoot him or her with a shot in the head.”

Lima also said that this is degrading and that these killings must stop: “It is degrading, and puts us on the same level of as Latin American dictatorships where death squads were the daily reality.”

Two others died in the incident involving Manuel but police are as yet unaware who carried out the attack.

The incident occurred on the same day that political leaders and clergy called for peace and reconciliation at the funeral ceremonies of Jaime Gonçalves, Archbishop Emeritus of Beira and Catholic mediator of the General Agreement of Rome in 1992 which ended 16 years of civil war between Renamo and the Frelimo government.

Source: Deutsche Welle