Civil Society Criticises Use of Helicopter to Repress Popular Revolt in Maputo

- Questions are being asked as to where the government found such resources to repress demonstrations, if it is unable to fight crime and the insurgency

- Opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane has called further demonstrations for 24 and 25 October.

By Sheila Nhancale

Maputo (MOZ TIMES) – Monday’s revolt against the election results received a muscular response from the police, including the use of aircraft to patrol the capital’s outlying neighbourhoods.

A helicopter manned by police agents was seen flying over various Maputo neighbourhoods, particularly over the disorderly informal settlements, where the police have difficulty in organising overland patrols due to the lack of roads, or because the existing streets are too narrow for the circulation of police vehicles.

Witnesses who live in the outlying neighbourhoods say that the helicopter launched from the air tear gas canisters to disperse the people gathering to demonstrate.

The helicopter used to fight the revolt on Monday is registered in South Africa. According to records on the web page Aviapages , the helicopter with the registration number ZS-RML is owned by the company Henley Air, based in Johannesburg, at O.R Tambo airport. The helicopter has the capacity to carry up to three crew members.

The Mozambican police had never before been seen using aircraft to disperse crowds. Mozambique does not possess many aircraft for the fight against crime. It has faced a resurgence of organised crime such as kidnappings of business people with demands for ransoms, and drug trafficking, with the drugs moved in onshore waters and on the coast, and yet the police do not have the resources to combat crime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpQfZGy0ICI Aircraft flying over the location of popular demonstrations in Maputo city. Video by THE MOZAMBIQUE TIMES (MOZ TIMES).

Local civil society organisations criticised the use of a helicopter to disperse urban crowds. Paula Monjane, of the Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), says there was a disproportionate use of public resources.

"Our police have been exhibiting excessive force at demonstrations. They have diverted resources which should be used in the fight against terrorism, and are instead being used against defenceless and unarmed civilians. It is worrying to see the State divert funds which should be used in fundamental areas, opting instead for unnecessary expenditure”, said Monjane.

“We ask where the State finds such resources, particularly when the same government has difficulties in paying wages in the public administration”, he added.

The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), based in Maputo, also criticised the use of the helicopter against demonstrators, and said that the vigorous response of the police caused deaths and more than a hundred injuries.

“The intervention of the police which, for the first time, was boosted by a helicopter – in a country which is weeping before the wave of kidnappings, supposedly for lack of resources – and by snipers stationed on top of some buildings in the main cities, resulted in at least three deaths in Maputo and Tete, and more than 100 injuries, mostly in Maputo, which was the main stage of the police atrocities, which included an open and deliberate attack against journalists”, said the Centre chaired by Adriano Nuvunga who is also the chairperson of the Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (SouthernDefenders).

The police also used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, including journalists who were covering the event.

Orféu Lisboa, a Mozambican journalist who is the correspondent of Portuguese Radio and Television (RDP) in Mozambique, was covering last Monday’s demonstrations, when he was hit by tear gas grenades fired by the riot police.

“The tear gas was simply thrown at where we all were, including the journalists. We were a well-identified group of people and at that time I don’t believe there was any kind of threat. We were interviewing the opposition presidential candidate, at a place removed from the confusion”, this reporter commented in an interview.

"It was a terrible moment, and a negative and unequalled experience. In the middle of my professional activity, I was prevented from continuing and was afraid of what else might happen”, he added.

The Government spokesperson, Deputy Justice Minister Filimão Suaze, on Tuesday denied the police action had been excessive, and said this might have been an action of people interested in causing chaos.

“If there were any excesses in the behaviour of the Defence and Security Forces yesterday (Monday), it is material that is under analysis and study by the Defence and Security Forces, and at an opportune moment there may be a statement”, said Suaze at the end of the Government’s weekly press briefing.

He added that it is necessary to confirm whether the Defence and Security Forces really did use live ammunition against the demonstrators, or if the shots came from “other people interested in creating chaos”.

Opposition presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has called for further demonstrations on 24 and 25 October (next Thursday and Friday) throughout the country. On 24 October, the announcement is scheduled of the final results from the general elections held on 9 October. The peliminary results granted victory to the Frelimo presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, and gave Frelimo a parliamentary majority of over 75%. (SN)

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