'You are ready to die': Protesters face the bullets of political change in Mozambique | Protests News

Rights activist Cidia Chissungo has spent the past few days looking at images she never thought she would see in Mozambique: Young men with bloody bodies and bullet wounds; young people with swollen shut eyes from being beaten with tear gas by the Mozambican police.

Chissungo, 28, who writes about the level of violence that continues after the elections that broke out last week, says that the pictures of dead and injured people that have spread on the Internet have given him sleepless nights.

“There is a 16-year-old boy who was shot in the mouth, and his mouth was destroyed,” Chissungu told Al Jazeera. “There is a hole where his mouth was. Every time I close my eyes, I have that image in my head.”

It is just one bad example of how Mozambican youth are paying a heavy price as the country faces its worst post-election violence. Clashes erupted last Monday after police opened fire on supporters of 50-year-old Venancio Mondlane. On Friday, at least 11 people were killed, many were injured – including a police officer – and around 400 people were arrested, according to Human Rights Watch.

On Thursday, thousands of protesters are expected to fill the streets again in protest in Maputo, the capital and other cities, ignoring outgoing President Filipe Nyusi's calls to stay at home.

The protesters were fed up with the results of the October 9 election where longtime Frelimo (Mozambique Liberation Front) candidate Daniel Chapo swept the vote, while Mondlane, a youth favorite, came a distant second. The opposition parties said that the votes were rigged, and the election observers also noticed that something was wrong.

The brutal killing of two of Mondlane's colleagues last Saturday also angered fans. Although he ran as an independent candidate, Mondlane was supported by a non-parliamentary party, The Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique, abbreviated as Podemos.

Zolile had just returned to Maputo and other cities this week. Although the evidence of this chaos was still visible in the burnt police station, businesses in the city were looted, tires scattered on the roads were burnt, election boards were also torn, people went out to work on Monday.

However, on Wednesday night, on Facebook, Mondlane called for another protest to start on Thursday. In Maputo, young people gathered in groups, watching Mondlane on their phones, and chanting “Vamos, Vamos!” – which means “let's go”.

Ballot stuffing and ghost voters

Many Mozambican youth – who make up two-thirds of the 35 million people – saw October 9 as an opportunity to end Frelimo. The group has ruled the country since independence from colonial power Portugal in 1975 after a bloody uprising. It then fought a civil war with the opposition group Renamo (Mozambican National Resistance) between 1977 and 1992.

However, young Mozambicans say that Frelimo's reputation as a liberal party does not affect them, and that its legacy has been buried deep under years of economic collapse, corruption, high unemployment, and armed conflicts in the north, although the country has many tourist attractions. and abundant gas resources.

“Many young people feel that there is no hope,” said activist Chissungu. “We still have children sitting under trees to study, we have unpaid teachers who are on strike every now and then, schools are closed because they cannot pay for water but we have money to buy cars. [top government officials].”

Analysts had predicted that Mondlane's popularity among the youth in this election would make the election competitive, but there was no doubt that President Nyusi, who has been in power for two terms, would hand over the reins to his Frelimo colleague, Chapo. Chapo, 47, played on his youth in his campaigns and tried to persuade young people with promises of 'change' but many ended up not believing.

The election day of 9 October, and the first days that followed, were calm as the voting numbers were collected by the National Electoral Commission (CNE). Reports of ballot stuffing, ghost voters, and altered voter registration papers began pouring in from observers, including the African Union, the European Union and the local Catholic bishops' union.

“The whole thing was planned to steal the election,” veteran academic Joseph Hanlon, who has studied Mozambican politics for decades and monitors elections, told Al Jazeera on election day. “In some places we see the result sheets written in pencil so that they can be changed afterwards. The election is not organized from start to finish.”

As the polls continued to make it clear that Frelimo would win, it became more and more intense in the opposition camps. Mondlane's Podemos supporters are furious, as are supporters of Renamo, whose popularity, usually weak, has plummeted in the polls.

Mondlane and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade dismissed the illegal results, accusing Frelimo of fraud. Mondlane also said he won.

Political assassination in Maputo?

The problem escalated on Saturday, October 19.

Two senior members of Podemos were killed in the city of Maputo: Elvino Dias, Mondlane's lawyer; and Paulo Guambe, the Podemos candidate for parliament. The two men were leaving the bar in a car when two armed men attacked them and fired up to 20 bullets into the car, witnesses said. A third person in the car, a woman, was injured.

Mondlane, on the same day, suspected that they were the victims of a political murder, as police officials said that this murder appears to be the result of revenge.

The killing of these caused shock in Mozambique and around the world. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an investigation, as did the EU, the African Union and the United States. Frelimo, in turn, urged the authorities to do “everything in their power to shed light on this matter”.

At the night vigil for the murders, Mondlane said he will not be discouraged and asked his followers to demonstrate. “We have evidence. The blood of the two young men is now on the ground! We will all take to the streets. We will protest with our signs,” he said.

There could have been protests without the killing, analyst Americo Maluana told Al Jazeera. “Citizens and political actors do not trust the CNE because of its inability to fulfill its duty to deliver free and fair elections, or [the] in the 2023 elections,” he said, referring to the chaotic municipal elections last October that many said were full of law violations and saw three people killed by security forces after opposition groups protested.

On Monday, October 21, protesters, led by Mondlane, gathered in Maputo, in the same place where Dias and Guambe were killed, singing “Save Mozambique” and “the country is ours”.

Police officers, apparently trying to disperse them, opened fire. Human rights groups say some protesters were shot with rubber bullets and tear gas, but most were hit by bullets. Protests also broke out in other cities including Nampula, Chiure and Tete.

On October 24, in anticipation of the announcement of the election results, Mondlane's supporters once again poured into the streets across the country and clashed with the police. Others threw stones and sticks. Others attacked public buildings and set fire to one police station. The homes of some Frelimo politicians were also targeted.

The police responded with bullets and tear gas. Most of the deaths and injuries were recorded on October 24 and 25, rights groups said. One police officer was injured.

Among those killed is 29-year-old Jacinto. The young man had just left his home when he was shot dead, his family told Al Jazeera. He did not succeed in the protests.

Some who stayed at home did not survive. The 16-year-old boy was at home when the protesters ran away from the police and entered his house, Chissungu told Al Jazeera. Police officers chased him and shot him in the legs, he said.

In hospitals, the number of injured and dead has accumulated. It is not clear how many people have been injured so far. Chissungu said some people are afraid to go to the hospital because they are afraid of being arrested.

'No more fear'

As Mondlane's supporters are preparing to take to the streets with renewed vigor on Thursday, it is unclear how long the protests will last. Police in Mozambique on Monday said they have opened charges against a politician for vandalism during protests.

Earlier this week, Mondlane contacted other opposition parties to come together, he urged Frelimo to form a national unity government, and try to push the model adopted by neighboring countries in South Africa, where the African National Congress (ANC) failed. won a majority in the elections earlier this year and was forced to form a coalition.

But Maluana, an analyst, said Frelimo will probably try to use the election to “consolidate” its rule.

Aid workers say the disruption is halting aid efforts in the northern province of Cabo Delgado where members of al-Shabab, a group affiliated with ISIL (ISIS) but unrelated to the group of the same name in Somalia, have targeted communities. The conflict has continued since 2017 and has seen hundreds killed and two million people displaced.

“It is impossible to approve anything because many things have been suspended in anticipation of a change in management,” said Hannah Danzinder da Silva, country director of Search For Common Ground, an independent group that works to find aid and services. in the affected communities.

Strikes and disruptions, he said, will harm many illegal workers across Mozambique who will not be able to do business. “There is a great need for people to go to work and make money because the biggest need in Mozambique right now is economic security,” added Da Silva.

Meanwhile, Chapo's presidential office appears to be closed as international leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, have congratulated him.

However, Chissungo, in Maputo, said the young protesters are also determined. For a long time, many have felt disrespected by politicians, he said that these protests are synonymous with freedom.

“People are clear that this is the time for us as young people to make history, we do it now or never,” he said. “The police used to scare them before, but now, without fear, that has become a problem. People say we are ready to die, and the more pressure there is, the more powerful people feel. “

Additional reporting by Malcolm Webb in Maputo.