WeeklySA_AdminTENSION: Poll-related violence foreseen at SA’s neighbouring country, which is already battling insurgency in its gas-rich northern parts…
By Agnes Aineah
Cabo Delgado – Tension is high in various parts of Mozambique following the highly contested elections in the country’s 65 local government areas on Wednesday, an official of Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI) has said.
In an interview with ACI Africa today, DHPI director Johan Viljoen said violence had already been reported in some parts of the Southern African country even before the elections were conducted.
Viljoen expressed fear that the violence could spread across the entire country, which is already battling insurgency. He said that supporters of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), and those of Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), the country’s two main opposition parties, were already gearing up for violence.
“The situation now is very disconcerting. Supporters of the various political parties have already said that they will not accept the outcome of the elections. My fear is that the violence will spread and engulf the whole country,” the Director for the peace entity of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) said.
Wednesday’s elections were reportedly marred by pre-election violence and reports of intimidation. Ballot boxes are said to have been filled before voting started. There was also violence during and after voting in various centers.
Viljoen told ACI Africa that in Chiure, a district in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, a young person was shot dead by the police when they opened fire on a crowd that had already gathered to celebrate the victory of an opposition candidate.
Frelimo currently controls 44 municipalities while the main opposition Renamo has eight, including Nampula and Quelimane. MDM’s stronghold is Beira. Frelimo has won every national election since the end of the civil war, and besides some pockets of support for opposition parties, neither Renamo nor the MDM has proven able to challenge Frelimo. According to Crisis 24, elections in Mozambique have “consistently been tainted with allegations of voter fraud by opposition parties and international observers.”
“Election periods have consistently proven disruptive. Clashes between opposing supporters and with police are relatively common,” reads the Crisis 24 report. Today, Viljoen said that election-related violence in Mozambique was foreseen.
“The violence in Mozambique is not surprising,” the DHPI official said, and added, “The ruling party in the country has made it clear that they are determined to cling to power at any cost. They said it even before the elections. They said that they are determined to take back the local government councils that were in opposition.” He said that the opposition in Mozambique has, in the past, had landslide victories in places such as Beira, Nacala, Nampula, and that the ruling party now wants to take these places as well.
“Nacala and Napula, for instance, have always been Renamo strongholds while Beira was always a stronghold of the MDM. Now, even though we don’t have official results yet, it is reported that Frelimo has won in Nacala and Nampula,” Viljoen said. He continued, “The people in Mozambique are tired of decades of war, poverty and corruption, and they want change.”
Meanwhile, Crisis 24 has called for vigilance while operating in Mozambique, noting that it is unclear when the October 11 election results will be announced.
“Protests and clashes between Frelimo, Renamo, and MDM supporters, as well as with security forces, are likely,” the agency has said, noting that protests in Mozambique are especially likely in opposition-controlled municipalities. Those in Mozambique have therefore been advised to avoid all gatherings, political events, and election-related activities, as well as concentrations of security forces.
Crisis 24 has also advised civilians to exercise caution near police offices, and government buildings, saying, “If clashes break out, leave the area immediately and take shelter in a secure, nongovernmental building.” Since last week, returning families who had been displaced from Cabo Delgado Province are fleeing again following a “new wave of attacks” aimed at displacing them, Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI) reported on October 4. According to the peace entity of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC), the returnees acted on the deception of the Mozambican government and TotalEnergies, an international multi-energy company that operates in the Southern African country.
The two, DHPI says in a report shared with ACI Africa, are lying to IDPs in Cabo Delgado that it is safe to go back home when insurgents are still wreaking havoc in the embattled Mozambican province.
“New wave of attacks in Cabo Delgado is causing returnees to flee again, contradicting claims by the State and TotalEnergies that the situation has been normalized,” DHPI says in the Wednesday, October 4 report. The Catholic peace entity recalls that TotalEnergies suspended operations in Cabo Delgado following a 2021 attack on Palma, a coastal town and gas hub. Since the suspension, DHPI notes, there has been considerable pressure on IDPs to return to their homes to “prove” that the situation has been normalized, so that TotalEnergies can resume operations.
Other pressures, such as the suspension of humanitarian assistance in camps hosting IDPs who fled from Cabo Delgado, have left them with limited options, DHPI says, noting that some are choosing to go back home to evade starvation.
Church leaders have consistently warned IDPs not to return, as the situation in their areas of origin is not yet stable, and as there is nothing to return to. They have been vindicated by the latest escalation of attacks over the past two weeks in areas that IDPs returned to,” DHPI says.
The peace entity had gathered reports of two groups of insurgents visiting the villages in Mocímboa da Praia, a town in the northernmost part of Cabo Delgado between September 27 to 29. The villages were Marere, Calugo and Ulo.
On arrival, the insurgents are said to have warned people, most of them fresh returnees, to leave their homes.
