Mozambique: Renamo accuses Defence Forces of murder – AIM report

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Mozambique: Renamo accuses Defence Forces of murder – AIM report

8:38 CAT | 24 Apr 2020

Photo: Sala da Paz

Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, on Thursday accused the armed forces (FADM) of murdering defenceless civilians in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Addressing a Maputo press conference, the Renamo national spokesperson, Jose Manteigas, claimed that, on 12 April, members of the FADM intercepted a boat carrying people and goods from the provincial capital, Pemba, to the island of Ibo.

After what Manteigas called “a simulated interrogation”, the FADM members allegedly dragged the boat under an Ibo jetty, and opened fire against the occupants. Manteigas gave the names of eight people who had been killed, including the Renamo head of mobilisation in Ibo district, Momade Chabane, and his son, Samuel Momade, who was also a member of Renamo.

After the slaughter, Manteigas added, the killers threw the bodies into the sea.

On 16 April, Manteigas added, a boat carrying three passengers from Pemba to Palma district was attacked. When the boat reached Ibo, FADM members opened fire on the occupants, killing two of them. Manteigas said that the third, the owner of the boat, Amade Culanda, survived.

In Palma, Manteigas claimed, the FADM had also shot dead defenceless civilians, and he gave the names of four of them.

He added that the police too had murdered citizens “in broad daylight, without any plausible reason”, and mentioned the case of the bludgeoning to death of a man named Abdul Razak, in Beira last Sunday. But in this case the local police command acted swiftly, and arrested the two policemen accused of murdering Razak. The national police spokesperson, Orlando Mudumane, has promised that they will face disciplinary and criminal proceedings.

“Our people must not be the scapegoat for the incapacity and failure of the defence and security forces”, declared Manteigas. “Defenceless citizens must not be victim of the lack of military strategy to combat the insurgents who are cutting down human lives in Cabo Delgado”.

“Mozambicans are asking: if the police kill, the soldiers kill, and the insurgents kill, who will protect us?”, he exclaimed.

Manteigas urged President Filipe Nyusi, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the defence and security forces, “to order an immediate end to barbaric assassinations, to restore order in the ranks, and to create robust logistical conditions so as to raise combative morale and capacity”.

The police and FADM have not yet reacted to Renamo’s claims. Unlike many previous Renamo accusations, the list of crimes read out by Manteigas gives dates, places and the names of victims. It should thus be possible to investigate the allegations seriously.

Source: AIM