Mozambique: Military Junta leader denounces attempted murder of his children – DW

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Mozambique: Military Junta leader denounces attempted murder of his children – DW

2:33 CAT | 18 Sep 2020

FILE - Mariano Nhongo, Renamo dissident leader of the Military Junta. [File photo: DW]

Mariano Nhongo says that his family are being persecuted and that the Defence and Security Forces have tried to kill his children. He also threatens “to bring to a halt” operations at the Mafambisse sugar plant.

In an interview with DW, Mariano Nhongo said that on Wednesday (16.09), one of his sons was shot at five times, and his motorbike was later taken from him by alleged members of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) in the village of Chiadeia, Nhamatanda district, central Sofala province.

According to the leader of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta, a former Renamo general, on the same day, two of his youngest children were also captured, tortured and forced to reveal their father’s hideout.

“My son was hit, his motorcycle was taken. Five shots were fired, but he escaped. But this morning [Thursday] he called me to say he was being taken away [by the police],” Mariano Nhongo says.

“I have information that members of the Rapid Intervention Force, policemen with weapons, are in the area, combing the population for children aged 7, 10, 15 years. To what end?” he asks.

“I will destroy Nhamatanda. I have the capacity to paralyse everything in Nhamatanda,” he threatens.

Nhamdw — *Mariano Nhongo threatens to attack Nhamatanda after his children were assaulted*

Authorities unreachable

DW contacted the Nhamatanda administrator Tomé José for clarification, but he said he was not currently in the district and was unaware of the situation. DW also tried to reach district police structures, but without success.

Another member of the self-proclaimed Military Junta, André Matsangaisse Júnior, says he has lost contact with four members of his family, including his pregnant wife, and believes they have been abducted by the FDS in the city of Chimoio, central province of Manica.

In response, Nhongo is threatening to spark a popular uprising that could result in the destruction of the Mafambisse sugar mill, which is located in the nearby village of Nhamatanda. “I’m going to paralyse that sugar plant,” he warns.

Nhongo’s threats come on a day when two passenger buses were attacked in Pungwe, on the border between the districts of Nhamatanda and Gorongosa. The attack resulted in seven people being injured, three seriously, Sofala province police spokesman Dércio Chacate said.

Mozambique: Nhongo threatens to paralise sugar factory – AIM report

Mariano Nhongo, leader of the self-styled “Renamo Military Junta”, has threatened to paralyse the Mafambisse sugar plantation and factory in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, in retaliation for an alleged attempt by the defence and security forces to kill his children.

In an interview with the German agency DW Africa, on Thursday, Nhongo claimed that the previous day five shots were fired at one of his children in the village of Chiadeia, in the Sofala district of Nhamatanda.

He also alleged that on the same day, two of his younger children were captured, tortured and obliged to reveal the hideout used by his father. There is no confirmation for any of these claims.

“My son was shot at, and they took his motor-bike”, Nhongo alleged, “Five shots were fired but he escaped. This morning he rang me up to say that he was being taken”.

Nhongo threatened to head “a popular revolt” which would lead to the destruction of the Mafambisse sugar mill. “I will paralyse that sugar factory”, he boasted. “I will destroy Nhamatanda. I have the capacity, and I shall paralyse everything that is in Nhamatanda”.

DW calls Nhongo “a former Renamo general”. In fact, however, he awarded himself the rank of general after he left Renamo and set up the Military Junta.

Nhongo calls the current Renamo leader, Ossufo Momade, “a traitor” and does not recognize the peace agreement Momade signed with President Filipe Nyusi in August 2019. He claims to be the real leader of Renamo, but it is not known how many members of the Renamo militia have followed Nhongo, and how many remain loyal to Momade.

The Military Junta has continued to stage lethal ambushes against vehicles travelling along the main roads in Manica and Sofala provinces. The latest such attack was against two buses near the small town of Inchope on Thursday morning.

Nhongo has rejected all attempts to persuade him to join the current demobilization of the Renamo militia.

Source: Deutsche Welle / AIM