from ARMANDO DOMINGOS in Maputo, Mozambique
Mozambique Bureau
MAPUTO, (CAJ News) – THE resurgent abduction and murder of opposition figures coupled with reports of the United States’ investment in a global French energy and petroleum company are fuelling deadly unrest in Mozambique.
These add to the troubles of the Southern African country where already, more than 300 people have died since post-election unrest since October 2024, and around 5 000 killed since the Islamist insurgency since 2017.
This past weekend has been one of the most tragic and dramatic in a nation where criminality is spiraling out of control.
On Saturday, Leão de Deus Nhachengo, the coordinator of opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane, in the southern province of Inhambane was found dead following his abduction from his home earlier in the morning by unidentified armed individuals, alleged to be state security officers.
The deceased was a key figure in mobilising citizens behind Mondlane’s recently-formed National Alliance for an Autonomous and Free Mozambique (ANAMALALA).
On Monday, another ANAMALALA member, unnamed at the time of publishing, was kidnapped and found murdered also in Inhambane, allegedly by police.
Violent clashes broke out in the area of Zavala in the province.
They are the latest prominent aide to Mondlane to be assassinated since the controversial elections.
Earlier this month, ANAMALA alleged an assassination plot on the party leader as state security displaced his rally in the capital, Maputo.
Inhambane has exploded into violence since the murder of Nhachengo.
Outraged residents this weekend barricaded roads, including the country’s most key highway, the N1. At least one police station has been burnt down.
The human rights group, Justice Frontal Equitas, believes the abduction and murder of the opposition activist is a revival of the “FRELIMO 100 plan” to eliminate Mozambicans with dissenting views, drawing comparisons to the 1990s, a period marked by widespread political killings of opposition members by the ruling party.
FRELIMO is an acronym for the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, which has ruled since independence from Portugal in 1975.
“The unrest reflects growing fears of a return to an era of unchecked political violence, highlighting deep tensions between FRELIMO and opposition movements in Mozambique,” Justice Frontil Equitas stated.
Meanwhile, locals in the Palma area of Cabo Delgado have taken to the streets in protest of the reported investment by the United States in a TotalEnergies gas project.
The investment is aimed at reviving the $20 billion initiative suspended due to security concerns, in a region paralysed by Islamists.
TotalEnergies and government officials were forced to flee the official announcement of the project.
Locals accuse the government of prioritising corporate interests over their welfare. They demand jobs in order to benefit from the vast natural resources.
In a related development, French prosecutors have launched an investigation into TotalEnergies for alleged involuntary manslaughter linked to the March 2021 jihadist attack in Palma.
The attack resulted in numerous civilian deaths.
Survivors and victims’ families accuse the company of failing to ensure the safety of subcontractors and providing inadequate assistance during the attack in the terror-prone area.
TotalEnergies refutes these claims.
“The investigation’s outcome will test the accountability of multinational corporations operating in conflict zones,” said an analyst.
Internationally, Mondlane has received mixed reactions in his foray to explain the situation in Mozambique.
He was among opposition leaders from the Southern African region detained and deported while attending an occasion by Angola’s opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
In South Africa, the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) rolled the red carpet for him.
– CAJ News