At Least 134 dead this week in Mozambique protests

MAPUTO, Mozambique 

At least 134 people have died since Monday in post-election protests in Mozambique, raising the total death toll to 261 since October 21, with 573 people shot, according to a new tally released this Friday by the electoral platform Decide.

According to the latest data from this Mozambican Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) monitoring electoral processes, with figures updated through Thursday evening, 36 people died in Maputo city and 20 in the province, in the south of the country, in just four days, in addition to 34 in Nampula in the north and 33 in Sofala in the center.

Since Monday, the NGO has recorded 228 people shot, including 62 in Maputo city and 37 in Maputo province, as well as 43 in Nampula and 65 in Sofala.

Since October 21, when disputes over the October 9 general election began, the Decide platform has recorded 573 people shot nationwide, along with 261 deaths and six disappearances.

Additionally, 4,199 people have been detained since the start of the post-election unrest, including 161 since Monday.

Mozambique has been experiencing social tension since Monday following the announcement of the final general election results, marked in the preceding days by looting, vandalism, and barricades, particularly in Maputo.

The Constitutional Council of Mozambique on Monday afternoon declared Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), as the winner of the presidential election with 65.17% of the votes, succeeding Filipe Nyusi. Frelimo also retained its parliamentary majority in the October 9 general elections.

This announcement triggered chaos nationwide, with pro-Venâncio Mondlane protesters—who, according to the Constitutional Council, received only 24% of the votes—taking to the streets with barricades, looting, and clashes with the police, who have been firing shots to try to disperse the crowds.

At least 1,534 inmates escaped on Wednesday afternoon from the Central Prison of Maputo, a maximum-security facility. The general police commander described this as a “premeditated” act by post-election protesters, which resulted in 33 deaths.

“We expect a sharp rise in all kinds of crime in Maputo city over the next 48 hours,” said Bernardino Rafael during a press conference on Wednesday night. He assured that among the escapees, of whom only 150 have been recaptured, are 29 “terrorists,” some of whom are “highly dangerous.”

According to the general police commander, the escape from the Central Prison of Maputo, located in Matola, 14 kilometers from the center of the Mozambican capital and housing around 2,500 inmates, was caused by “unrest” by a “group of subversive protesters” in the vicinity.

However, earlier, the Minister of Justice, Constitutional, and Religious Affairs, Helena Kida, had stated that the escape resulted from a prison riot and was unrelated to the post-election protests.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Venâncio Mondlane accused the authorities of intentionally allowing the prisoners to escape to manipulate public opinion and divert society’s focus.

“It was all intentional. These are mass manipulation techniques in the style of Soviet secret services (…) to make people stop talking about electoral fraud. They want to divert our focus,” Mondlane declared, also accusing the authorities of “sacrificing” some of the escapees.

Mondlane stated that the protests would not stop and urged his supporters to “intensify” demonstrations while avoiding the destruction of public and private property.

“Our focus is not on businesses and their commercial establishments. Our focus is on the institutions responsible for this fraud. That is where the protests should occur,” he said.