Mozambique: Son of kidnap victim denounces alleged lack of interest by authorities – Watch

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Mozambique: Son of kidnap victim denounces alleged lack of interest by authorities – Watch

3:09 CAT | 12 Aug 2024

Screen grab: O País

A member of the Islamic community in Mozambique, whose father was kidnapped years ago, last Friday publicly denounced the alleged lack of interest from the authorities in clarifying the kidnappings, accusing the Mozambican secret service of prioritizing a political agenda over state security.

“SISE, the Mozambican secret service, does not work for the people; it only works for political and other issues of its own,” Maulana Nazir said during a meeting in Maputo between the Islamic Community in Mozambique and the Mozambican authorities as part of a movement to halt the wave of kidnappings plaguing the country.

Maulana Nazir, the first family member of one of the many victims of the wave of kidnappings in Mozambique to speak out publicly on the matter, believes that the authorities are not interested in resolving the problem, denouncing the alleged involvement of “high-ranking members of the state” in the crimes that have plagued the country for more than 10 years.

“Members of the government are involved in the kidnapping syndicate. I am not saying that all members of the state are involved, but there are some high-ranking members involved,” Nazir alleges.

The member of the Islamic community in Mozambique, the community most affected by kidnapping crimes, came forward to say that he used his political influence, from the period when he was a member of parliament, to ask for support in the kidnapping of his father, but to no avail, having ended up paying part of the 10 million dollars that was the kidnappers’ first ransom demand.

“I have relations with high-ranking officials in the state. (…) I contacted the prime minister [at the time] and he introduced me to the [then] national commander and a brigade team of between 12 and 28 people was appointed, who came to meet with me every day. After 18 days I came to the conclusion that I was wasting my time. (…) The day after we paid the first instalment, the Criminal Investigation Services (Sernic) contacted us to ask how much had been handed over to the kidnappers,” Nazir said.

During the meeting, which was also attended by representatives of Mozambique’s justice institutions, the commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in the city of Maputo, Gabriel Chea, said that the authorities were using information provided by the victims to stop the kidnappings.

“We are concerned, as the police, which is an instrument of the state, to ensure the well-being and security of the people. I have to thank you for everything that was said to us and we will transform it into matrices to put our staff to work,” Chia declared.

Around 150 businesspeople have been kidnapped in Mozambique in the last 12 years and a hundred have left the country out of fear, according to figures recently released by the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), which argues that it is time for the government to say “enough is enough”.

The Mozambican police have recorded a total of 185 cases of kidnapping up to March and at least 288 people have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in this type of crime since 2011, the Minister of the Interior previously announced.

“Everything indicates that the city of Maputo has the highest tendency and incidence of criminal cases of kidnapping, followed by the province of Maputo and, finally, Sofala, with 103, 41 and 18 cases recorded, respectively,” Pascoal Ronda declared at the time.

The wave of kidnappings in Mozambique has affected businesspeople and their families, especially people of Asian descent, a group that dominates commerce in the urban centres of the country’s provincial capitals.

The majority of kidnappings committed in Mozambique are planned outside the country, especially in South Africa, the Attorney General of the Republic, Beatriz Buchili, said in parliament in April. The National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) confirmed to Lusa on 6 August that there are three international arrest warrants extant for citizens who have been identified and are in South Africa, considered “potential” masterminds of the kidnappings, and that it is working in coordination with Interpol to arrest them.

Source: Lusa / O País