Unknown individuals attempt to kidnap local leader of third Mozambican party

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Unknown individuals attempt to kidnap local leader of third Mozambican party

3:52 CAT | 09 Nov 2016

DW (File photo) / Inacio Pangaia is currently being treated for serious injuries in the head and abdomen in a private clinic in Chimoio

A local representative of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) in Chimoio, Manica province, central Mozambique, was attacked and the target of an abduction attempt by individuals who vandalised the flag and flagpole of the party during the assault, the man’s daughter has said.

Manuela Pangaia told reporters on Saturday that a group of 11 men arrived in an open box van as her father, Inacio Pangaia, an MDM delegate for the Nhamadjessa neighbourhood, was preparing to leave for church.

“They hit him with a catana and he began to lose a lot of blood. Then they loaded him into the van and headed off towards the Chissui cemetery. But the vehicle broke down in front of the police station, and, fearing discovery, they abandoned him and fled,” she said.

Inacio Pangaia was found on Tuesday, November 8, reports Deutsche Welle.

Manuela said that several neighbours tried to help the victim during the assault, but the attackers waved guns at them to keep them at bay while they destroyed the flagpole and MDM flag in the yard of the house.

Speaking to Lusa yesterday, Inacio Maicolo, the MDM’s provincial political delegate in Manica, confirmed the incident, noting that several members of the party have been abducted and tortured in the execution of a strategy he said was aimed at “silencing the opposition”.

“In the circumstances we live in today, we understand that this [kidnapping and torture] has political motivations,” said Maicolo, mentioning several other reported cases.

According to the family, the MDM representative is out of danger.

Lusa tried unsuccessfully to contact to the police.

Both the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) and the MDM accused the government at the end of October of having created death squads to silence their opponents, while the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) majority party says the armed wing of the main opposition party is responsible for the assassination of its militants.

Mozambique’s justice minister, Isaque Chande, has rejected accusations that the government has set up any death squads, saying the authorities only persecute criminal organisations.

Source: Lusa / DW