Mozambique: CDD opens office in Xai-Xai to encourage political tolerance in area

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: CDD opens office in Xai-Xai to encourage political tolerance in area

2:32 CAT | 07 Nov 2020

Photo: CDD

Representatives of the state in Gaza ignored the invitation of the CDD to participate in the inauguration of the office in Xai-Xai.

The NGO Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has opened a new office in the provincial capital of Gaza (Xai-Xai), where an election observer was killed during the 2019 general election campaign.

“We will work to promote a tolerant democracy and defend human rights and human rights defenders,” said Adriano Nuvunga, the director of the CDD, speaking during the inauguration of the office.

According to Nuvunga, the recurring electoral and political violence in Gaza is among the reasons that led the organisation to open a permanent office in that city.

“What we want is to work with young people so that they understand the need for political tolerance and democratic coexistence,” he added.

The office in Xai-Xai is the second CDD representation in Gaza, after the youth centre in Chókwè, whose activities are focused on promoting reproductive sexual health.

According to the NGO, representatives of the state in Gaza ignored the invitation of the CDD to participate in the inauguration of the office in Xai-Xai.

The city was in the spotlight last year after the murder of activist Anastácio Matavel, leader of the electoral observation group of the Casa da Paz organisation.

Matavel was shot down by six police officers on October 7, 2019, on the street, a week before the general elections in the country, in a case that deserved repudiation from several Mozambican and international entities.

In June, the Judicial Court of Gaza Province sentenced the six police officers to prison sentences of between three and 24 years for their involvement in the murder.

The CDD, which paid the fees for legal assistance to Anastácio Matavel’s family during the trial, expressed its disappointment that the Mozambican state was absolved of civil responsibility for the murder of the election observer.

“We are not satisfied with the acquittal of the state of civil responsibility because it became clear at the time of the trial that the police were on duty fulfilling a higher order”, said Adriano Nuvunga at the time, in statements to Lusa.

The province of Gaza, 380 kilometres from the Mozambican capital, is considered the “bastion” of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), a party in power that has always won overwhelmingly in the region all elections held in the country since the first ballot in October 1994.

Source: Lusa