Maputo: At least 21 people, including two police officers, have been killed in Mozambique in the past 24 hours after the ruling Frelimo party’s election victory was confirmed, the interior minister announced on Tuesday.
The Portuguese-speaking African nation’s highest court confirmed on Monday that the Frelimo party, in power since 1975, had won the Oct. 9 presidential election that had already sparked weeks of unrest. was given
Interior Minister Pascual Ronda told a press conference late Tuesday that a total of “236 acts of serious violence were reported” across the country, injuring at least 25 people, including 13 police officers.
“Gangs of armed men using bladed weapons and firearms have carried out attacks against police stations, penitentiary centers and other infrastructure,” Ronda said.
He further said that more than 70 people have been arrested.
AFP correspondents said the largely deserted capital Maputo had previously been the scene of clashes between protesters and police.
Police in armored vehicles patrolled the city center, where hundreds of protesters in small, scattered groups threw objects and set fires.
Soon after a court confirmed the victory of Frelimo presidential candidate Daniel Chapo, makeshift barricades were set on fire on key thoroughfares on Monday evening, blanketing the city in thick smoke.
Chapo’s main rival, exiled opposition leader Venancio Mondlin, has claimed the election was rigged, sparking fears of violence among rival party supporters.
Meanwhile, shops, banks, supermarkets, petrol stations and public buildings were ransacked, their windows broken and goods looted. Some were set on fire and reduced to smoldering rubble.
“Maputo Central Hospital is working under critical conditions, more than 200 employees could not reach the scene,” its director Mozinho Said told AFP, adding that about 90 people were admitted with injuries. has gone
He added that forty were injured with firearms and four with knives.
Major roads leading to Maputo and the neighboring city of Matula were blocked with barricades and burning tires, while the road to Maputo airport was largely impassable.
Most local residents stayed at home, with a few doing so to survey the damage or do some last-minute Christmas shopping.
Christmas Eve is usually a busy time, with central Maputo bustling but shops and even small neighborhood grocery stores closed, making petrol and bread unavailable.
Public transport was also paralysed, with only ambulances and hearses plying.
‘humiliation’
Local media reported that the unrest spread to several cities in northern Mozambique, with violence and vandalism in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampola, Zambezia and Tete, where opposition support is strong.
More than 100 people have already been killed in the unprecedented post-election violence, with fears that the death toll could rise after Mondlin claimed victory.
Mozambicans are demanding “electoral truth,” he said in a Facebook post. “We must continue to fight, remain united and strong.”
Monday’s confirmation of election results came despite claims of irregularities by many observers.
Chapo won 65.17 percent of the vote, five points less than the initial results announced by the country’s election commission.
In the National Assembly, Frelimo has a majority of 171 out of 250 seats, 24 fewer than it declared in October.
“Venancio,” as Mondlin is called on the street, repeated his claim in a social media message on Tuesday that the Constitutional Court was “legalizing fraud” and “humiliating the people.” .
“We want to create a public constitutional court, which will confirm Venencio Mundlin as president,” he said of himself.
“I will take the oath and invest,” he added.
Chapo, who is due to take office in mid-January, took a conciliatory tone in his victory speech on Monday, promising to “talk to everyone,” including his main opponent.