from ARMANDO DOMINGOS in Maputo, Mozambique
Mozambique Bureau
MAPUTO, (CAJ News) – THE killing of no less than nine children during ongoing post-election protests in Mozambique is a serious indictment of security forces during the political crisis.
In addition to the killings that recurred this past weekend in the now-volatile Southern African nation since the October 9 election, at least four teachers were demanding improved working conditions.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) this past weekend reported that a 14-year-old boy was the latest minor to be killed as security forces at times resort to live ammunition to quell protests around the restive country.
He has reportedly been shot dead in the Machava area of the capital, Maputo.
On Saturday, mourners chanted songs denouncing police as murderers during a procession to bury another minor that was shot dead in the Bairro Luis Cabral region of Maputo.
UNICEF thus reported nine minors have been killed since late October when the electoral commission declared Daniel Chapo, of the governing Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), as the winner of the presidential poll, with over 70 percent of the vote. Reports indicated FRELIMO, in power since independence in 1975 won 195 of the 250 seats in Parliament, according to the electoral authority.
Chapo and FRELIMO opponents claim vote rigging and protests, led by the youth that have taken to the streets, have battered Mozambique.
“Children should be protected from danger and injury at all times. Ensuring their safety and protection is everyone’s possibility,” UNICEF appealed.
Figures obtained by CAJ News Africa indicate that between November 13-15, security forces shot dead 22 people and arrested 80 others.
Eight were reported killed on Saturday.
An unidentified vehicle, allegedly used by security forces, also deliberately ran over at least seven youngsters protesting in Maputo, with some casualties feared dead.
An office of the FRELIMO in Maputo was vandalised.
The European Union (EU), whose observers to some extent discredited the elections, is concerned at the post-poll crisis.
“The EU calls on the Mozambique Constitutional Council to uphold full transparency in the electoral process and ensure the integrity of the results,” it stated.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which Mozambique, is meeting in Zimbabwe this week to seek solutions to the issue, and the militancy in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Outgoing president, Felipe Nyusi, has called for calm.
– CAJ News