The full bulletin in pdf is on https://bit.ly/Moz-El-348
The two translated papers are on https://bit.ly/Moz-El-Mos-Ngo
More than 100 killed by police
Police killed 27 people in four days of demonstrations which bring the total killed by police to 103, from 21 October up to and including yesterday (Saturday 7 December), according to Plataforma Eleitoral Decide https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091999366841. The highest numbers were Gaza 10, Nampula 8, and Cabo Delgado 3.
Decide’s accurate reporting of killings appears to have shaken the security service. Decide is based in Beira and yesterday at 7 pm in Esturro neighbourhood two people a white Toyota Hilux without license plates (and thus probably a security service car) got out the car and tried to force the Decide communications officer into the car. The public intervened and the kidnap failed. And on Friday evening the Executive Director was poisoned. “He eventually received medical assistance, where significant traces of arsenic poison were found in his blood, in a quantity that could be considered deliberate to cause acute intoxication,” Decide said in a statement today (Sunday 8 December)
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Demonstrators close major roads
Main roads remain closed this morning and controlled by local demonstrators. On the N1 the road has been closed at Bobole, Marracuene, just north of Maputo, since yesterday. The photo is from this morning (Sunday 8 December). Some protesters say the road will remain closed until Wednesday. But by 17h five armoured vehicles and a number of soldiers had arrived; the road was still closed.
Elsewhere on the N1, in Xai Xai Frelimo supporters are stopping cars and forcing them to remove posters supporting Venancio Mondlane.
The photo from this morning shows a Frelimo supporter with a stick tearing a Mondlane poster off of minibus windscreen.
The Ressano Garcia border crossing with South Africa also remains closed, at least officially. But local people have an informal agreement with border staff and individual travellers are being allowed through but not commercial cargo. The main target is ferro-chrome lorries going from South Africa to Maputo port; up to 1000 a day pass this crossing. Elsewhere on the N4 from Ressano Garcia to Matola and then Maputo, there are regular road closures by local groups.
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Is Frelimo dying, leaving only a failed corrupt state, or can Frelimo and Mozambique be saved?
The country is burning and there were no firefighters available. Mozambique is a country out of control, with the symptoms of a collapsed state. The Frelimo elites had accumulated so much wealth over all these years, corroding the state from within, but they had forgotten to invest in their own protection, writes Marcelo Mossse, editor of Carta de Moçambique. He argues “not everything in Frelimo is rubbish. The party is full of good people with good intentions, and many of them have had no space to assert themselves since the emergence from the stomach-churning self-esteem of Guebuzismo to the corrupt autocracy of Nyussismo.”
This is one of two papers written by important thinkers and posted this weekend. They recognise the speed with which demonstrations have grown and become more violent. And it shows that the crisis cannot be solved through what it called “an elite bargain” where the top people make a deal. Young people are demanding to be listened to, and have seen they have the power to force change. The two papers are written in Portuguese for a local audience but we think they are important and have translated them into English. They are on https://bit.ly/Moz-El-Mos-Ngo
“The demonstrations reveal a feeling of distrust and discontent with the electoral institutions, but the slogans that emerge on the roads, markets, schools and hospitals reveal something even deeper. On the one hand, they express intense nationalism, an emotional attachment to the country – evident in the anthems that send shivers down the spine – and pride in being Mozambican. On the other hand, they show a structural clamour against the elitism of the current model of economic governance, which is at odds with the citizens’ aspirations for justice and equity, write Severino Ngoenha & Augusto Hunguana. Severino Ngoenha is Rector of the Technical University of Mozambique and one of the most prominent political thinkers. Augusto Hunguana is a Supreme Court Judge.
They argue that “the moment demands urgency. Mozambique is facing a political and social fire that needs to be contained before it completely consumes the national fabric. Just as firefighters give priority to saving lives and putting out the fire before looking for culprits, we must also focus on stabilising the country before getting lost in accusations or reciprocal disputes.” And there must be an agreed solution before the Constitutional Council declared the results in two weeks.
And they conclude “The peace of the brave in Mozambique can only be built when leaders realise that the well-being of millions of vulnerable Mozambicans depends on their courage to engage in dialogue in order to build the future together. It’s time for Mozambique to stop looking back with resentment and start looking forward with responsibility.”
Both papers are only in Portuguese but we have translated them and in English they are on https://bit.ly/Moz-El-Mos-Ngo
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Kenmare invaded and demonstrators wanted to burn its plane
Demonstrators set on fire the premises of the Irish company Kenmare which exploits the heavy mineral sands of Moma, Nampula. Company executives were given an emergency evacuation when the population was ready to burst into the landing strip. Their idea was to burn the aircraft.
Kenmare has come under criticism for not building promised roads and bridges that would provide access to other Nampula districts.
The Kenmare executives tried to convince the demonstrators that there was a project to build a bridge, long demanded by the local population, but this did not prevent them from setting fire to the administrative block.
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Buildings burnt after clashes in Larde
In Larde, Moma, Nampula, a Frelimo shock group, receiving a party brigade from Nampula city, assaulted a young man from the Podemos. In response, Podemos members burned down the Frelimo zone committee. They then went to burn down the Frelimo District Committee offices, the premises of the District Economic Activities Services, and the office of the local STAE. They also burnt a vehicle and blocked the circulation of boats on the river
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Nampula Central Hospital may run out of space
The number of people entering Nampula Central Hospital, suffering from wounds inflicted by police bullets, is increasing every day. The Hospital has already warned that it may be running out of capacity to treat any more victims of gunshots.
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