Mozambique: Nhongo’s widow demands the release of [seven] allegedly kidnapped children

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Mozambique: Nhongo’s widow demands the release of [seven] allegedly kidnapped children

7:05 CAT | 12 Jan 2022

File photo: VOA

Sofala police say they have no record of any kidnapping of Nhongo’s children.

The widow of the leader of the self-proclaimed Renamo Military Junta leader, Mariano Nhongo, who was killed in combat in October, is demanding the release of her seven children, allegedly kidnapped a year ago by elements of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS).

But the police say that there is no record of any such occurrence.

“I want the government to return the children to me. Their father is already dead. He was in the military and died in service, so the children were kidnapped because of their father’s work,” says Amélia Marcelino, herself a survivor of the ambush in which her husband lost his life, in statements to VOA.

Speaking in the Chisena language, Amélia Marcelino, a former Renamo guerrilla demobilised with the rank of Major, emphasises that among the kidnapped children is Nhongo’s eldest son, who should have been playing a crucial role in his father’s absence, since “already I don’t have the strength to take care” of all the children.

“I ask the [Mozambican] government, if it has already killed them, to tell me,” Marcelino says. Like other family members, she believes that her children were kidnapped as a way of forcing Mariano Nhongo to surrender.

But a spokesman for the police in Sofala contacted by VOA says that the corporation has no record of Mariano Nhongo’s children being abducted.

“Of kidnapped children of Mariano Nhongo, I have no knowledge. I have no knowledge of any abduction taking place or being reported to any police subunit,” Daniel Macuacua said.

Read: Just in: Family members of Andre Matsangaissa kidnapped in central Mozambique – VOA

Nhongo, who opposed the leadership of Ossufo Momade in Renamo and demanded the reformulation of the peace agreement with the government, claimed or was accused of attacks that killed dozens of people in Sofala and Manica, central Mozambique.

Political analyst Wilker Dias says the case is a social consequence of the founder of the self-proclaimed Military Junta’s negative legacy, but considers Amélia Marcelino’s demand “legitimate, coming from a mother”.

“Her speech shows acceptance that the conflict is over, that the main head of this conflict no longer exists, so there is no longer any reason to keep the children in captivity,” Dias says.

Amélia Marcelino was demobilised, but re-joined the ranks of Renamo, and then the Military Junta, when the conflict in central Mozambique reignited.

Read: Mozambique: Widow speaks of Nhongo “desperate in the woods” – DW

Source: VOA Portugues