Two prominent opposition party officials were gunned down Saturday in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, days before the results of the country’s disputed elections are expected to be announced.
Eyewitnesses report that gunmen ambushed the car that opposition lawyer Elvino Dias, and party official Paulo Guambe were traveling in Saturday. Dias was a legal adviser to Venancio Mondlane and the People Optimistic for the Development of Mozambique or PODEMOS party.
Mozambique’s Minister of Interior Pascoal Ronda confirmed the killings of both men, adding that police launched a manhunt.
“The government urges the relevant institutions, particularly the National Criminal Investigation Service and the police of the Republic of Mozambique, to calmly clarify these cases and ensure that their actors are brought to justice and held responsible for their heinous acts,” he said.
The killings prompted condemnations in Mozambique and abroad. In a joint statement, the U.S. Embassy, the Canadian High Commission, the Norwegian Embassy, the Swiss Embassy and the United Kingdom High Commission expressed their deep condolences to the families of the victims and strongly condemned the murders.
Anti-corruption advocate and director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Mozambique, Adriano Nuvunga, said the murders are aimed at creating chaos.
“It is an attack on democracy ... and an attack on a democratic rule of law, and an attack on each and every one of us who believe in the fight for electoral justice in Mozambique.”
Preliminary results from the country’s general elections held on October 9 show presidential candidate Daniel Chapo of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, or Frelimo party, on course to win the vote.
Chapo's closest rival, Venancio Mondlane, ran as an independent, but was supported by PODEMOS. Mondlane claims the election was marred by fraud and manipulation by Frelimo.
Dias was preparing to challenge the results in the Constitutional Council when they were expected to be announced this week. Mondlane had called for a national strike beginning Monday, Oct. 21, in protest of the “election rigging.”
On Saturday in Maputo, Mondlane said the shutdown will go ahead despite the deaths of Diaz and Guambe.
“I would first like to declare that we will maintain the strike more than ever for Monday, this is more than clear, but now we will have a different character,” he said. “We are not going to stay at home with our hands folded, for this strike, no one will ask for permission from any municipality and there is no need; demonstration is a constitutional right and exempt from authorization, no one should authorize us to demonstrate, therefore we will maintain the strike, in the sense of that there is no work, public or private.”
The shootings are widely viewed in Mozambique as politically motivated.
Police spokesperson Leonel Muchina said the victims were killed after leaving a local bar and added the attack might be related to interactions the men had with other patrons.
The final election results could be announced Thursday and Chapo is expected to be declared the winner.
