Mozambique: Catholic Bishops warn of “worsening” post-election crisis

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Mozambique: Catholic Bishops warn of “worsening” post-election crisis

1:27 CAT | 07 Jan 2025

File photo: CEM - Conferência Episcopal de Moçambique

The Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM) has said that the post-election crisis in Mozambique “is getting worse” and expressed “deep gratitude” to the Angolan bishops for their expression of solidarity in the face of the crisis the country is facing.

In a note sent to the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé (CEAST), held in Luanda on January 1, 2 and 3 and which said prayers for peace in Mozambique, the CEM expressed gratitude for the initiative of the Angolan Catholic Church, calling it supportive and hopeful.

“The CEAST initiative, in which you echo the common sense of the Church and express your solidarity with the Mozambican people and the Catholic Church in Mozambique, encourages us and instils in us hope at a time when the post-election crisis is getting worse,” said the Mozambican bishops.

In the note, signed by the archbishop of Nampula and president of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique, Inácio Saure, and to which Lusa had access on Monday, the Mozambican church also thanks the bishops of Angola for the “praiseworthy initiative” of a day of prayer for peace in Mozambique, which “bears witness to [our] unity and communion with the children of the same church”.

The day of prayer for peace in Mozambique ended last Friday night with a vigil in the Angolan capital.

READ: Angola, São Tomé and Principe Bishops’ Triduum Prayer for peace in Mozambique concludes with call to end violence

On 1 January 2025, the Angolan Catholic bishops expressed solidarity with the people and the Mozambican church in light of the post-electoral crisis in that country, calling for the opening of lines of negotiation to “stop the spiral of violence” that the country is facing.

In a note addressed to the bishops of the Mozambican Episcopal Conference, CEAST expressed solidarity with the people and the Mozambican church, “once again tested by the pain and anguish caused by widespread violence that threatens the peace so hard-won by this nation”.

In response to reports from Mozambique following the post-electoral crisis, “worsened by the publication of the final election results”, CEAST joined with the Mozambican bishops in calling for “containment of violence and the search for lasting peaceful solutions that require the pursuit of electoral truth and justice”.

Mozambique’s Constitutional Council (CC), the country’s final court of appeal in electoral matters, has officially set January 15 as the date for the inauguration of the successor to Filipe Nyusi as President of the Republic.

On 23 December of last year, the CC declared ruling party Frelimo’s candidate Daniel Chapo the winner of the election for President of the Republic, with 65.17% of the vote, succeeding Filipe Nyusi in office, as well as confirming Frelimo’s success in maintaining its parliamentary majority in the general elections of 9 October.

Daniel Chapo will assume the Mozambican presidency in the year in which the country celebrates 50 years of independence, an anniversary marked by the greatest contestation of election results since the country’s first elections, in 1994.

Chapo’s election is contested in the streets, and the announcement by the CC increased the chaos that the country has been experiencing since October, with supporters of Venâncio Mondlane, who claims victory despite, according to the CC, obtaining only 24% of the votes, demanding the “re-establishment of the electoral truth”, with barricades, looting and clashes with the police, who have fired shots in their attempt to quell the movement.

Clashes between the police and the protesters have already caused almost 300 deaths, with more than 500 people suffering gun-shot wounds, according to civil society organizations following events.

Source: Lusa