Attackers shot dead a lawyer for a leading Mozambique opposition politician and a senior party official on one of the capital’s main avenues on Friday night, their party said yesterday, as tensions escalate amid disputed election results.
Elvino Dias, a legal adviser to presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, was driving in his car down Joaquim Chissano Avenue just before midnight with Paulo Guambe, a senior spokesperson for opposition party Podemos, when two vehicles blocked their way and armed men riddled Dias’ car with bullets, according to a statement issued by Podemos.
Dias was reportedly leading preparations to mount a legal challenge against the results of the presidential and legislative elections held on October 9. The official results are set to be announced by Thursday but preliminary figures give a significant lead to governing party Frelimo and its presidential candidate Daniel Chapo.
Mozambique interior minister Pascoal Ronda said the National Criminal Investigation Service and the police have already begun work to bring those responsible for the killings to justice. Chapo issued a statement in which he expressed his “deep consternation” about the deaths of Dias and Guambe and said the killings were “an affront to democracy and the principles of a democratic rule of law”.
Mondlane, who was running as an independent but with the support of Podemos, has accused electoral agencies of manipulating the vote in favour of Frelimo and claimed victory the day after the election.
The killings are “further clear evidence of the lack of justice that we are all subjected to”, Podemos said in its statement.
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Videos shared by witnesses on social media showed a grey BMW SUV pockmarked with bullet holes. Inside, two bodies can be seen with blood stains on their clothes.
The police confirmed the deaths of Dias and Guambe in a press conference on Saturday and claimed they were followed after a discussion about a marital dispute in a nearby market. A third unidentified passenger survived and was later taken to hospital, the police said.
‘Political assassination’
However, Adriano Nuvunga, the director of Mozambican human rights NGO the Centre for Democracy and Development, described the killings as a “political assassination”.
The Mozambican Bar Association, of which Dias had been a member, said the “barbaric murder” was “an attack on the legal profession, its independence, the rule of law and democracy.”
The embassies of the US, UK, Canada, Switzerland and Norway issued a joint statement condemning the killings and urging “all citizens, political leaders, state institutions and stakeholders to resolve peacefully and lawfully, rejecting violence and inflammatory rhetoric”.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borell also affirmed that “there is no place for politically motivated killings” and called for the “utmost restraint by all”.
The EU’s election observation mission identified several irregularities in its preliminary assessment of the vote, including possible ballot stuffing, disorganised counting and a register of voters which in some provinces exceeded the total voting age population.
Last week, Mondlane called a nationwide general strike for Monday to protest against the election results, which Dias had helped to organise.
Speaking at a vigil on the spot where the two men were murdered, Mondlane said: “We want a peaceful demonstration in the streets to repudiate these barbarous crimes that have been committed. If the police use violence, after that there will be an even greater force from the people.”
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