Nampula, Mozambique, in mourning

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Nampula, Mozambique, in mourning

11:21 CAT | 05 Oct 2017

South African President Jacob Zuma addresses his supporters after he survived a no-confidence motion in Cape Town, South Africa, August 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

The assassination of the mayor Mahamudo Amurane has shaken the citizens of Nampula and the country generally.

The MDM in Nampula has reacted to the death Amurane, who had already announced that he would leave the MDM and stand in the October 2018 elections as an independent candidate following the deterioration of relations with the party.

“We, as MDM, are in mourning. We have lost a senior party cadre, a member of the National Political Commission,” said Luciano Tarieque, MDM delegate in Nampula, who is demanding justice and that the police hold the guilty parties accountable.

The MDM, the country’s third-largest political party, has convened an extraordinary session of the political commission in Beira today.

Mahamudo Amurane was married and the father of two children. The family currently lives in Portugal. Before becoming president of the municipal council, Amurane had been a financial adviser to UNICEF and to the Sofala provincial Directorate of Education and Culture.

Murdered on Peace Day

Mahamudo Amurane was shot near his home in Nampula’s Namutequeliua neighbourhood, less than 400 meters from a police station as the country was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the signing of the General Peace Agreements.

The mayor’s security officer told DW Africa that he had been dismissed by Amurane himself at around 2:00 p.m., after the official ceremonies ended.

Amurane was in the pharmacy he ran on the ground floor of his private residence when a man entered and fired three shots, MDM councillor Saide Ali, who was with Amurane when he was shot, told Lusa.

Amurane, 44, could not sustain the injuries and lost his life at Nampula Central Hospital.

“We received the body of the mayor of the municipality at around 6.45 pm He was admitted to the resuscitation, but the death was confirmed,” said the clinical director of the largest health unit in northern Mozambique, Bainabo Sahal.

The medical-legal autopsy is to be conducted today (Thursday 05/10).

Police on the hunt for suspect

Speaking to reporters, provincial police commander in Nampula Zacarias Zandamela was unwilling to elaborate in detail, but said that the police were working on the investigation and would make further statements in due course. For now, there were no known reasons for the crime.

The Mozambican police already have a clear description of the suspect of assassinating the president of the Municipal Council of Nampula.

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) has an operation under way to detain the suspect. “There are clear indications from the eyewitnesses that the shooting would have been carried out by an individual with properly described characteristics. The police are in possession of these descriptions and we have important witnesses,” PRM spokesman Inácio Dina told Lusa.

Source: Deutsche Welle