Renamo denounces alleged attempted attack on Manuel de Araújo

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Renamo denounces alleged attempted attack on Manuel de Araújo

2:42 CAT | 28 Sep 2018

Renamo says that a supposed Mozambican police officer in Zambézia has infiltrated the largest opposition party’s structures in order to threaten the safety of its head-of-list Manuel de Araújo. The police have not commented on the claim.

Mozambique’s largest opposition party, the National Resistance of Mozambique (Renamo), has alleged that, during local election campaigning in Quelimane on Thursday 27 September, a member of the Mozambique Police in Zambezia infiltrated the party in order to harm Manuel de Araújo.

According to Renamo spokesman Latifo Charifo, the alleged agent was quickly neutralised by the candidate’s private security guards. Manuel de Araújo confirms what happened, but without advancing any further details. “I’ve decided not to go into issues that have nothing to do with the body of the campaign. That’s my strategy – I’m focussing on the campaign,” he said.

Charifo says that the threat against Araújo’s security was carried out by a police agent who infiltrated the group of Renamo supporters with unknown goals. “During the campaign, we noticed an individual behaving strangely. We discovered that he is a policeman from Milange. He was detained by our security personnel, who took him to the police station in Namuinho,” he said.

“This has never happened in any campaign – a policeman in civilian clothes appearing in the Renamo team,” Charifo said. “We have teams in all the neighbourhoods of the five administrative posts in this city, and he simply shows up where ever our head-of-list goes. That leaves us indignant.”

Renamo waived police protection

The Renamo spokesman considers that the neutralisation of the alleged agent was “lucky”, saying that the party waived police protection in door-to-door campaigning on Thursday, because there was no rally.

“We need protection when it’s a rally, but when it’s door to door we do not need protection because there’s no voter euphoria,” he explained.

Police have not commented on the claim, saying only that it was difficult to control events when they were not invited to be present. “When situations arise, it is difficult to control them, so all activities should be carried out in the presence of the police,” police spokesman Miguel Caetano said.

But for Latifo Charifo, Renamo’s election campaign in the city of Quelimane is under threat. “We have seen episodes of this kind in some provinces that ended in tragedy,” he recalled.

Source: Deutsche Welle