Mozambique: Renamo accuses police ‘death squad’ of murder

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Mozambique: Renamo accuses police ‘death squad’ of murder

7:30 CAT | 08 Feb 2023

Photo: Sala da Paz

Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, has accused agents of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the Mozambican equivalent of the riot police) of murdering a prominent Renamo member in the western province of Tete.

A Renamo press release issued in Maputo on Monday claimed that the police members had formed a “death squad” which, on 30 January, murdered Rafael Dikson, the Renamo political delegate in Nkondedzi locality, in the district of Moatize.

Renamo claims that the government has “re-activated” death squads, solely in order to harass and assassinate Renamo members.

The murder of Dikson, the Renamo release said, is “a harsh blow against the DDR (Demobilisation. Disarmament and Reintegration) process and against the collective effort to constitute effective peace and true national reconciliation”.

It added that “our demobilized and our fighters are seriously affected and are distrustful about the genuine will to continue with the DDR”.

Renamo says it has complained to various police units, from local to provincial level, about the death of Dikson, but so far there has been no reaction.

On Monday, the Renamo national spokesperson, Jose Manteigas, gave more details about the alleged assassination. Cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, he said that Dikson was intercepted at about midday on 30 January by three masked men wearing UIR uniforms, and taken into the bush where he was killed.

Dikson had been riding his motorcycle, when he was stopped by the supposed UIR agents in a Mahindra vehicle. They dragged him into the car and drove towards Manica province. In Bunga locality, between Changara and Guro districts, said Manteigas, they murdered him and set his body on fire.

“This modus operandi shows that this is another crime by the death squads that have been institutionalized in the country by the regime, with the purpose of silencing Renamo members”, he claimed.

He warned that the murder could hold up the DDR, and demanded that Dikson’s killers be brought to justice.

The DDR was already in serious difficulties. An attempt in December to close the last Renamo military base, in the central province of Sofala, failed, largely because of disagreement over pensions for demobilized Renamo fighters.

Source: AIM