Mozambique Human Rights Commission wants to clarify mass grave revelations

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Mozambique Human Rights Commission wants to clarify mass grave revelations

2:48 CAT | 30 Apr 2016

In File Club of Mozambique / Custódio Duma

The Human Rights Commission of Mozambique (CDHM) wants to determine the veracity of the discovery of the reports of a mass grave with more than 100 bodies in the centre of the country, stating that, if confirmed, it is a “very troubling” case.

Stressing the existence of conflicting information on the case, the President of CDHM, Custódio Duma, said, “if it is a real and proven fact, it is very worrying,” noting that the first action of the institution “is to determine if that situation took place” and urging the prosecutor also investigating.

Gorongosa administrator denied yesterday the existence of a mass grave in the district, contrary to the report of a group of farmers who assured Lusa that they had seen a mass grave with more than one hundred corpses in the 76, zone, in the administrative post of Canda, in the district of Gorongosa .

In a statement quoted by the Information Agency of Mozambique (AIM), Manuel Jamaca states that a team from the district government was sent to the site, but did not find the mass grave that is described by the peasants.

Sofala police announced yesterday that it will launch an investigation to determine the veracity of the discovery complaint.

The area is described as being of difficult access and high risk, given the presence of the military, in the context of the current military crisis that opposes government forces and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the largest opposition party.

According to the president of CDHM, it is essential to establish whether the trench exists, and if so, check whether it is a case of civilian, military or Renamo men, which, in any scenario, he argued, is cause for concern.

According to the account of farmers, the grave was discovered in an area used for the extraction of sand for the rehabilitation of the N1, the main road of Mozambique, in a place close to an illegal extraction of gold mine, now abandoned due to the escalation of military violence in the region.

“The trench has about 120 bodies, some already in skeletons and others still decomposing,” told Lusa one of the farmers, who did not say if the bodies had bullet marks, suspecting that they had just been unloaded by vehicles due to maneuvering signals on the site.

Although there was no evidence that links this trench with the current military crisis in Mozambique, another farmer who was at the scene recalled the wave of persecution and executions for political reasons and that the region has been the scene of fighting between the military wing of Renamo and government forces.

“There are no visible traces of military and some of the bodies are naked,” he described.

Renamo and government forces keep fighting in the centre of the country since 2013 with special focus on the region of Gorongosa, where it is assumed the opposition leader, Afonso Dhlakama, is currently based.

In the context of this crisis, which has worsened in recent months, there are several records of military confrontation between the parties, but no information or images on the respective casualties.

“This is also part of our concern,” said Custódio Duma, noting that the real dimension of this conflict is unknown, because both government and Renamo, for political or military reasons, “do not disclose the actual numbers of what is happening and keep families without information. “

Meanwhile, Duma said, in the case of the attack on the secretary general of Renamo, Manuel Bissopo, in Beira in January, where Bissopo was wounded and his bodyguard killed, the CDHM asked for the name of the deceased, but the opposition party did not provide it.

Clashes between the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and the armed wing of Renamo have been reported in the central region, which also recorded attacks on some sections of the country’s main road, attributed by the government to the armed wing of the main opposition party.

Renamo threatens to seize power by force in six central provinces and the north where it claims victory in the 2014 general elections, claiming that the results have allegedly been rigged by Frelimo.

Source: Lusa