Good afternoon. Is there much chance of a peaceful resolution to Mozambique’s political problems? Political observers and operatives contacted by Zitamar News did not feel very optimistic following President Nyusi’s speech to the nation yesterday, in which he once again complained about post-election violence, and called opposition leaders to a meeting, supposedly to bring an end to the unrest (see below).
Nyusi’s speeches tend to be banal and unsurprising, and this was no different. He also gave the impression of having been forced to make it. It has been six weeks since the elections, which Frelimo claims it won but which were marred by widespread claims of fraud. In that time, there have been protests and strikes over the outcome, and dozens of people have been killed by police bullets — some, allegedly, from police death squads in deliberate murders (see below). But it was not until yesterday that Nyusi thought to address the nation on the crisis. As usual, he did not criticise the police or express regret for civilian deaths, and his claim that 19 people (police and civilians) have died looks rather low. Nor did he address the causes of the riots: not just the election fraud carried out by his Frelimo party, but also anger at the state of the country.
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Tom Bowker
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
Holding a meeting of the sort Nyusi proposed would be difficult, since one of his invited guests, opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, is wanted by the authorities on criminal charges, as well as being the subject of a lawsuit seeking about $500,000 in damages. A court has also now ordered his bank accounts in Mozambique to be frozen.
