Mozambique inaugurates new president amid deadly unrest

MAPUTO: Mozambique kicked off an inauguration ceremony today where president-elect Daniel Chapo will be sworn into office after weeks of deadly political unrest, but the main opposition leader has vowed to “paralyse” the country with fresh protests against the fiercely disputed election result.

Venancio Mondlane had already called for a national strike in the days leading up to the inauguration and threatened yesterday to curtail the new government with daily demonstrations.

Mondlane, 50, who is popular with the youth, maintains the Oct 9 polls were rigged in favour of Chapo’s Frelimo party, which has governed the gas-rich African country since independence from Portugal in 1975.

“This regime does not want peace,” Mondlane said in an address on Facebook yesterday, adding that his communications team was met with bullets on the streets this week.

“We’ll protest every single day. If it means paralysing the country for the entire term, we will paralyse it for the entire term.”

Chapo, 48, called for stability on Monday, telling journalists at the national assembly “we can continue to work and together, united … to develop our country”.

International observers have said the election was marred by irregularities, while the EU mission condemned what it called the “unjustified alteration of election results”.

The swearing in ceremony was expected to be snubbed by foreign heads of state, a move “which sends a strong message”, Maputo-based political and security risk analyst Johann Smith told AFP.

Former colonial ruler Portugal is sending foreign minister Paulo Rangel.

“Even from a regional point of view there is a hesitancy to acknowledge or recognise that Chapo won the election,” Smith said.

However, neighbouring South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa was at the ceremony.

Amid tensions, security forces blocked roads throughout the capital Maputo and around Independence Square, where the swearing-in is being held.

The extent of the unrest from now on “depends on how Chapo will tackle the crisis”, analyst Borges Nhamirre told AFP.

The inauguration of parliamentary lawmakers Monday was held amid relative calm.

The streets were deserted, with most shops closed either in protest against the ceremony or out of fear of violence, while military police surrounded the parliament building and police blocked main roads.

Still, at least six people were killed in the Inhambane and Zambezia regions north of the capital, according to local civil society group Plataforma Decide.

Unrest since the election has claimed 300 lives, according to the group’s tally, with security forces accused of using excessive force against demonstrators.

Police officers have also died, according to the authorities.

Chapo, who is expected to announce his new government this week, could make concessions by appointing opposition members to ministerial posts to quell the unrest, said Eric Morier-Genoud, an African history professor at Queen’s University Belfast.

There have also been calls for dialogue but Mondlane has been excluded from talks that Chapo and outgoing President Filipe Nyusi have opened with the leaders of the main political parties.

Chapo has repeatedly said however that he would include Mondlane in talks.

Mondlane, who returned to Mozambique last week after going into hiding abroad following the Oct 19 assassination of his lawyer, has said he was ready for talks.

“I’m here in the flesh to say that if you want to negotiate … I’m here,” he said.

According to official results, Chapo won 65% of the presidential vote, compared to 24% for Mondlane.

But the opposition leader claims that he won 53% and that Mozambique’s election institutions manipulated the results.

Frelimo parliamentarians also dominate the 250-seat national assembly with 171 seats compared to the Podemos party’s 43.