By Ricardo Dias
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – Selective murders of members of the largest opposition party in Mozambique are continuing.
On Sunday, 5 January, another member of PODEMOS was shot dead, in Luabo district, Zambezia province. This is the fifth member to be assassinated since the last general elections, held on 9 October. The first two, Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, were killed on 19 October, just ten days after the voting.
The most recent victim of the death squads is 23 year old Paulo Jaime Paulo, an active member of PODEMOS and the son of Jaime Paulo Pedro, the party’s district delegate in Luabo.
According to the PODEMOS spokesperson, Duclésio Chico, it is suspected that the defence and security forces are involved in the murder of Paulo, who was accused of providing support for the local peasant militias known as the Naparamas.
The Naparamas clashed with the Defence and Security Forces in Zambézia, during the post-election demonstrations. But the murder of opposition members is a longstanding practice which has also occurred in other provinces.
In Zambézia, two other senior PODEMOS members were murdered on 22 and 26 December. On Friday, 3 January, another senior member of the party was killed by four armed men in Montepuez, in Cabo Delgado province.
Also on Sunday, another PODEMOS member, in Moatize district, Tete province, escaped an assassination attempt, after he was shot at, added Duclesio Chico, in a telephone interview.
The police have not yet solved any of these murders, but have brutally repressed the post-election protests, causing the deaths of at least 300 people, according to data from the “Decide” Platform. (RD)
