Mozambique, South Africa discuss Ponta do Ouro deaths

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Mozambique, South Africa discuss Ponta do Ouro deaths

8:26 CAT | 28 Jun 2019

Photos: Miramar

The South African authorities on Wednesday formally apologised for the incident that occurred on 16 June, near the Ponta de Ouro resort, in the southernmost Mozambican district of Matutuine, when South African soldiers shot dead two members of the Mozambican Frontier Guards.

According to a report in Thursday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the General commander of the Mozambican police, Bernadino Rafael, on Wednesday granted an audience to the commander of operations of the South African Armed Forces, Lt-Gen Barney Muntu, who came to Mozambique, representing the South African chief of staff, to deal specifically with the 16 June shooting.

Muntu promised to share with his Mozambican counterparts the final results of the investigations the South African military have launched. The investigations, he said, will lead to disciplinary or judicial proceedings, depending on the level of guilt of those involved.

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“We came to offer our condolences for the deaths of the two Mozambican police officers”, Muntu said. “We are also guaranteeing that our relations remain good and solid. The incident embarrassed us. We recognise the error and we shall work together to ensure that similar situations do not happen again”.

Rafael, however, was unhappy that, ten days after the shooting, the South Africans have still not given any preliminary information that might explain the shooting. They have not even explained what South African soldiers were doing on the Mozambican side of the border.

But as a result of Muntu’s visit, “we set next Monday as the deadline for them to present us with preliminary information about what happened”, Rafael told reporters. “The expectations of Mozambicans in general, and of the families of the victims in particular, was that we would at least have preliminary information about what really took place”.

“We received messages of condolences, but that’s not enough to explain the cause of the incident”, added Rafael. “We are very concerned, particularly because this incident involved deaths. We continue to await the outcome of the investigations under way”.

To speed up the investigations, Rafael suggested that Mozambican experts should be included in the commission of inquiry set up by the South African armed forces, while South African agents could join the Mozambican commission.

According to “Noticias”, the South African side reacted positively to this proposal.

Source: AIM