Mozambique: Canal de Moçambique Executive Editor escapes a kidnapping attempt

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Canal de Moçambique Executive Editor escapes a kidnapping attempt

11:05 CAT | 01 Jan 2020

in file CoM

Three men armed with guns, baseball bat and golf club attempted on Tuesday afternoon to kidnap the executive editor of Canal de Moçambique, Matias Guente.

The botched kidnap attempt took place in Alto Maé (Maputo), right behind the Army Headquarters. Apparently the unidentified criminals were following the journalist who was going to visit relatives in the area. When he stopped his vehicle, they dragged him out of his car and tried to force him into their vehicle described as a white Toyota Corolla.

However, Guente resisted the attempted kidnapping and that’s when they assaulted him with the baseball bat and golf club. Fortunately for Guente, the road was narrow which caused a traffic jam, and street hawkers who were close by started shouting. This enabled the journalist to flee his assailants and enter a nearby garage. Because of the traffic jam and also because other drivers were coming out of their cars, the would-be kidnappers ended up fleeing the scene.

The journalist is currently receiving treatment in a clinic in Maputo. The police have yet to issue a statement, but the police commander general, Bernardino Rafael, is said to have visited Guente in his hospital bed.

The assailants used the same modus operandi employed in past kidnappings of journalists and human rights defenders.

Meanwhile, in the country where impunity rules…
Editor of @Canal_Moz, Matias Guente, escaped an attempted kidnapping this afternoon in Maputo. He was followed by 3 men in a Toyota, who tried to remove him by force from his car. He managed to fight back, sought help in a garage.

— Zenaida Machado (@zenaidamz) December 31, 2019