Good afternoon. Accusations made by the police of foreign interference in election protests (see below) are part of a campaign directed against foreign people and governments. It is an old tactic of the Mozambican state to blame outsiders for stirring up trouble, which has been used in the past in response to criticism of the environmental impact of big projects.
This does not just seem intended to deflect criticism away from the government for its handling of the demonstrations (or lack of handling), but also to discourage foreign donors from funding NGOs like the Centre for Public Integrity and the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, which have been so energetic in repeatedly reporting on and condemning electoral fraud in the weeks since the elections.
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Alexandre Nhampossa
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
It comes after an anonymous “open letter” that appeared on social networks recently, accusing the Swedish and Dutch ambassadors of colluding with opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and the Podemos party that supports him. In addition, the anonymous “MozLeaks” pamphlet recently cited photos of certain white people who have been seen taking part in demonstrations, and accused them of funding the protests. Coincidentally or not, they were all women, some quite high-profile, and actually likely to all be dual nationals. Meanwhile, Alcinda Abreu, a member of ruling party Frelimo’s Political Commission, has implied that there is an international conspiracy to remove Frelimo and other African “liberation parties” from power. No evidence has been presented for any of these claims.
