Maputo, 7 Mar (AIM) – The Mozambican Attorney General’s Office (PGR) has notified former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane to appear before the institution next Monday to respond to a criminal case against him, related to the post-election riots.
But it seems that he has no intention of obeying this summons. Interviewed for Friday’sissue of the electronic daily “Mozambique Times”, Mondlane’s legal advisor, Dinis Tivane, confirmed receipt of the PGR notification.
But he declared that Mondlane will not attend because he has gone into hiding, following the police attack on Wednesday afternoon against his motorcade, which his supporters have interpreted as an assassination attempt.
Mondlane’s advisers insist that he was not harmed during Wednesday’s attack, but refuse to reveal his whereabouts. According to one, as yet unconfirmed, report, he has crossed the border into South Africa.
Maputo city police spokesperson Leonel Muchina claimed on Thursday that there was no attempt to kill Mondlane. The police were merely dispersing the crowd of his supporters. But this was done in broad daylight and caught on the cameras, which showed the riot police using tear gas and opening fire against Mondlane’s motorcade.
Muchina denied claims by Mondlane’s followers that two children had died in the attack. Independent observers said that at least 16 people were injured.
As news of the alleged attempt on Mondlane’s life spread across Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola, so did rioting. Some of the worst disturbances took place throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning in the Matola neighbourhood of Patrice Lumumba.
According to a report in the independent newsheet “Carta de Mocambique”, the rioters threw up barricades preventing the movement of traffic. Piles of burning tyres blocked the roads. No transport operator dared put his vehicle on the streets, and all shops, formal and informal, were closed.
Rail traffic was also affected. On a normal morning four passenger trains run from Matola-Gare to central Maputo. But on Thursday, none were running.
Without buses or trains, people living in Matola but working in Maputo, had to walk to work, or just gave up.
The rioting coincided with the ceremony elsewhere in the city, where President Daniel Chapo and nine political parties were signing “a political commitment to an inclusive national dialogue”.
The police attack on the runner-up in last year’s presidential election looked like a direct challenge to Chapo’s authority. To stage a police riot at the same time as the head of state was speaking about reconciliation was a propaganda gift to Chapo’s opponents.
(AIM)
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