Good afternoon. Yesterday this newsletter predicted that more violence was probable during the eight days of protests over the disputed election results called for by opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane. We would rather have been wrong, but the prediction was all too true. Wednesday saw some of the worst police violence since protests began. According to various reports and Zitamar News’ own information, 14 people are reported to have died yesterday up and down the country after being shot by police, most of them in Nampula province (see our Live Blog post).
The cycle of violence has continued to repeat itself, with protesters attacking and burning offices of ruling party Frelimo and police stations. Police in the Nampula neighbourhood of Namicopo are said to be sleeping away from home, for fear of being attacked in the night by protesters who know where they live. It is easy to condemn mob violence, but such behaviour is deeply ingrained and cannot be stopped easily. The only way out of this is for Mondlane to call off the demonstrations, but he has not been offered any incentive to do so yet.
The full Daily Briefing continues below for Pro subscribers. Subscribers to the Zitamar News tier can read the top half, including the full leader article, here.
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
As we reported yesterday, proposals for a deal between Frelimo and the opposition have started to emerge. But they do not mean much unless and until the two sides are willing to engage with each other. To date, we have not seen any sign that ruling party Frelimo is prepared to negotiate. The party’s official line, as stated by agriculture minister Celso Correia yesterday, is that Frelimo won the election, and Daniel Chapo will become president in January. Nobody in Frelimo or the government has acknowledged the widespread evidence of vote-rigging.
