Mozambique’s Frelimo-led government must urgently launch investigations into reports of widespread human rights violations committed during the ongoing crackdown on protests following disputed national elections and commit to making the findings public, Amnesty International said.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted on 21 October 2024 following the killing of two prominent opposition-aligned figures. Since then, there have been credible reports of widespread human rights violations with more than 300 people reported killed, including children and bystanders, in an attempt to crush the protests, with the vast majority of deaths blamed on security forces, according to tallies by monitoring groups. Government forces have also shot and wounded more than 700 others and arbitrarily detained thousands, according to the same tallies, with reports of torture and other ill-treatment in custody. The authorities have also reportedly targeted journalists, restricted internet access and deployed the military.
“The crackdown on protests in Mozambique following last year’s election has been appalling. It is the bloodiest election cycle in Mozambique’s post-civil war history, yet the suspected perpetrators have enjoyed complete impunity,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farisè.
“Mozambique’s new government must promptly open independent, effective and thorough investigations into all deaths, incidents of torture and other ill-treatment, and other reported human rights violations during the ongoing crackdown, with clear timelines to publicize results. President Daniel Chapo must prove his readiness to break this cycle of impunity by championing calls for urgent investigations and ensuring full cooperation with the investigative authorities. He must also ensure effective reparation to victims and survivors and use his authority to end human rights violations by security forces during protests.”
Deadly force
Mozambique held national elections on 9 October 2024. Preliminary results showed the ruling Frelimo party candidate Daniel Chapo in the lead, ahead of the opposition PODEMOS party-backed candidate, Venancio Mondlane, who disputed the counts.
On 19 October, amid widespread allegations of vote-rigging, unidentified gunmen ambushed a car in Maputo and riddled it with bullets, killing senior PODEMOS official Paulo Guambe and Mondlane’s legal advisor Elvino Dias.
On 21 October, protests, called by Mondlane, broke out and quickly spread across the country. In the following days and weeks, police responded with unlawful and at times deadly force, with reports of tear gas fired into buildings and bullets shot at protesters.