from ARMANDO DOMINGOS in Maputo, Mozambique
Mozambique Bureau
MAPUTO, (CAJ News) – THERE is no end in sight to the post-election crisis in Mozambique.
Angry citizens are embarking on late night protests and on Monday, the government shut down the internet for the third time since the October 9 polls.
How the conflict-torn southern African country recovers from this crisis is uncertain, considering the nation has a history of stretched-out crises.
The latest bone of contention is the October 9 election that official results indicate Daniel Chapo of the ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) won the polls by around 71 percent.
His rivals, fancying their chances amid a wave of liberation movements losing their grip on power in the region in recent polls, claim electoral fraud, designed to keep FRELIMO in power.
The main opposition parties, Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (PODEMOS)), and Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) have rejected the election results.
At the time of publishing, a third mobile internet shutdown was underway.
The first was effected on October 25, a day after Chapo was announced winner.
There was a total shutdown in the early hours of Tuesday (last week), a blackout that started the preceding night.
Earlier, students at a local school in the restive province of Tete were exposed to teargas as police and government officers embarked on running battles.
Rioters fled to the Castro Teofilo school and, in an effort to thwart them, police allegedly launched gas grenades at the school endangering the minors.
“This is unacceptable,” said the advocate, Cidia Chissungo.
“These children went to school today because the authorities urged people to resume their activities, despite the announced protests. Yet the same authorities put the children at risk,” Chissungo said.
Hundreds have been killed during the crisis that began around 2017, and around 800 000 displaced.
– CAJ News