Mozambique: People should not fear police – new interior minister

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Mozambique: People should not fear police – new interior minister

3:27 CAT | 22 Jan 2025

Photo: O País

Mozambique’s new interior minister said on Wednesday that the population should not fear the police, pointing to restoring people’s trust as one of the corporation’s missions and duties.

“The population can’t be afraid of us. Citizens can’t be afraid of us. As I said in the beginning, citizens must be the point of departure and arrival of our activities. They must be at the centre,” said Paulo Chachine in statements to the corporation at the Ministry of the Interior in Maputo, in his first public speech after being sworn into office on Saturday by the new president of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo.

The new minister wants the corporation’s actions to be aligned with the aspirations of the communities, calling for police institutions to be places of “welcome and problem-solving” and to promote a harmonious relationship that is “guided by transparency”.

Chachine also called for strengthening meetings between the community and the police to reduce the distance between the parties, saying that the authorities need the population.

“It is our duty and mission to restore the trust of the people, population, and citizens (…). They must be at the centre of our activities. We cannot distance ourselves from them because they are what we need to effectively and efficiently carry out our mission,” he said.

On Tuesday, former Mozambican presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane called for the people to form an “autonomous court” and issue “judgements” against the police, citing the “macabre wave” of “summary executions” without the intervention of the authorities.

The position appears in a document, which he calls a “decree”, with 30 measures for the next 100 days, one of which states that “it is up to the people, the victims, to establish themselves as an autonomous court that issues judgements to stop the macabre wave of the UIR, GOE and Sernic”, referring to units of the Mozambique Republic Police that he accuses of “incessant flurry of summary executions”, following the post-election demonstrations, which have left more than 300 people dead and more than 600 shot since 21 October.

Source: Lusa