Maputo province: 268 admitted to health units for substance abuse in Q3
AFP / US Secretary of State John Kerry presents the 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Wednesday (April 13) at State Department in Washington.
The annual US State Department report on human rights flags political arrests and police abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture in prison, as some of the main challenges to fundamental rights in Mozambique.
“The most significant human rights problems include arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, the harsh conditions in prisons and detention centres, including reports of torture, and the failure to protect political rights and freedom of speech and of the press,” the US State Department 2015 report revealed on Wednesday.
Among the main human rights problems in Mozambique, the document also lists political arrests, arbitrary violation of correspondence, corruption and lack of transparency in government entities, restrictions on the rights of sexual minorities and lack of protection for albinos and victims of human trafficking.
In a brief note on the political and military crisis in Mozambique, which was already worsening at the end of last year, the text mentions one of two incidents involving the entourage of the head of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Afonso Dhlakama, in September 2015 in the province of Manica.
Referring only to the second case, on 25 September, the report notes that government forces blamed Renamo for initiating the incident by opening fire on a public transport minibus, killing the driver. They say that only afterwards did police arrive on the scene, a version of events contradicted by the opposition party, who spoke of an ambush.
“Both the government and Renamo gave contradictory versions of events and inconsistent reports about casualties,” states the report, without mentioning the siege and police raid to Dhlakama’s home in Beira the following month, or the substantial worsening of the political and military situation that followed.
Regarding detentions and political arrests, the document points out that Renamo spokesman Antonio Muchanga was held by police for a day for alleged incitement to violence and participating in an illegal protest march against alleged fraud in the 2014 elections, when he enjoyed parliamentary immunity
However, the report fails to mention the politically motivated abductions, with both Renamo and Frelimo (Mozambique Liberation Front) from the end of last year denouncing the kidnapping and execution of their members.
Gilles Cistac
The State Department report condemns the murder of Franco-Mozambican constitutional lawyer Gilles Cistac on March 3, 2015, in Maputo, “in what was globally considered a politically motivated crime”.
The document notes that Cistac had given opinions in favour of Renamo’s proposal for creating autonomous provinces in response to alleged electoral fraud in 2014, contradicting Frelimo’s claim that the opposition proposal was unconstitutional.
Among other human rights issues covered, the report cites the fears of many people, including members of civil society, that the government was monitoring their personal phone and email accounts, and also complaints about needing to be a member of Frelimo to obtaining loans, employment or business licenses.
Freedom of speech and of the press
The report also refers to the trial in September 2015 of academic Nuno Castel Branco and Mediafax editor Fernando Mbanze as the result of an opinion piece on the former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza later republished in Mediafax.
Although the defendants were acquitted of crimes against state security and abuse of press freedom, the State Department points out that the decision was appealed, the outcome of which has not yet been decided.
The report notes that the state controls various media and observes that these rarely criticize the executive or Frelimo, and that reported editorial consultation meetings at the Information Office (Gabinfo) State Agency level suggest self-censorship in newsrooms.
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