Maputo, 6 Jan (AIM) – Unknown assailants on Friday shot dead a senior member of PODEMOS (Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique), in Montepuez district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.
PODEMOS, the party which backed the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane in the general elections held on 9 October, is currently the country’s main opposition party, replacing Renamo, which was in that position since the first multiparty elections held in 1994 up until this year.
Abdul Lawia, aged 34, was murdered at around 19.00 on Friday, in Matuto 4 neighbourhood, in front of the house of his girlfriend, with whom he was talking.
According to a report by the independent newsheet “Integrity”, the criminals were wearing uniforms of the “local force”, which has been fighting against the Islamist terrorists who have been plaguing parts of Cabo Delgado.
The victim’s girlfriend suffered moderate injuries and she is hospitalized.
According to the survivor, speaking from Montepuez Rural Hospital, the action was carried out by two men dressed in uniforms similar to those worn by the local force.
“Everything happened very quickly. That same evening, my boyfriend was taken to the hospital, but unfortunately there was no medical intervention because he had already died at the scene of the murder”, she said.
The Podemos delegate in Cabo Delgado, Singano Assane, believes that his colleague’s death was politically motivated.
Abdul is the fifth PODEMOS member to be shot since the general elections of 9 October 2024. Four of the victims have died, while one survived. The first to be fatally shot, on 19 October, were Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, both advisers to Venâncio Mondlane.
The police have not detained any suspects in connection with any of these murders.
(AIM)
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