Renamo leader murdered in Gurue, central Mozambique – party

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Renamo leader murdered in Gurue, central Mozambique – party

8:44 CAT | 28 Oct 2016

A Renamo leader in Gurue, Zambezia province, central Mozambique, was shot dead on Thursday at his residence, a move attributed by the party to the “silencers democracy,” a source from the movement told Lusa today.

An armed group fired several shots that fatally struck Luciano Augusto, a leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), in the yard of his home on the evening of Thursday, while returning from work, said Abdala Ibrahimo, provincial political delegate of the largest opposition party .

“He was shot dead and we were outraged by this savage murder,” said Abdala Ibrahimo, adding that voices opposing the current government have been persecuted by the “political intolerance”.

“We think that it is no solution to this country [silencing of the opposition],” said Abdala Ibrahimo, adding that political violence is to amputate democracy, and appealing to the “organisers of this” to respect the right to life and people with different political ideologies, especially members of the opposition.

Without giving specific numbers, Ibrahimo, said that dozens of opposition members were killed in the villages, districts and rural and urban areas, following the political and military violence that afflicts the central and northern regions of Mozambique, describing that thousands spend the night in the woods to escape the persecution against them.

Police in Zambezia has not yet ruled on the Renamo leader’s murder in the province.

Militants of the two main Mozambican parties, the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power) and Renamo, have been killed in recent months in the country, in the context of current military violence between the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces and the armed opposition wing.

Jeremias Pondeca, member of the State Council by Renamo, who was a member of the party’s team in negotiations with the government for peace in the country, was recently found dead in Maputo with signs of bullets in the body.

On Wednesday, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) accused the government in parliament of having created death squads against members of the opposition, while the Frelimo bench attribute to the armed wing of the main opposition party, the authorship of assassinations of its militants.

The Minister of Justice of Mozambique, Isaque Chande, rejected claims that the Government instituted death squads against opposition activists, noting that the authorities pursue criminal organisations only .

The Mozambican authorities have accused Renamo of a series of ambushes on the roads and attacks on places of central and northern Mozambique, targeting police posts and also attacks on civilian facilities such as health centres or economic targets.

Renamo, in turn, accuses the Defence and Security Forces of military assaults on party positions.

The largest opposition party demands to rule in six provinces where it claims election victory in general elections in 2014, accusing Frelimo of committing electoral fraud.

Despite the cases of violence, the Mozambican government and Renamo maintain dialogue in Maputo in the presence of international mediators.

Source: Lusa