Mozambique Crisis: Unrest Grows In Maputo On Christmas Eve After Disputed Election Results Check Details


(MENAFN- Live Mint) Day after the ruling party was controversially confirmed winners in recent elections, Mozambique 's largely deserted capital was hit by skirmishes between protesters and police, reported AFP on Tuesday.

According to reports, Police in armoured vehicles patrolled the centre of the city where hundreds of protesters in groups threw objects and started fires.

Earlier on Monday, makeshift roadblocks on major thoroughfares were set alight that covered the city with thick smoke as country's highest court confirmed the victory of the ruling Frelimo party presidential candidate Daniel Chapo.

Exiled opposition leader and Chapo's main challenger Venancio Mondlane claimed the election was rigged , sparking fears of violence between rival party supporters.

Shops, banks, supermarkets, petrol stations and public buildings meanwhile were ransacked, with their windows smashed and contents looted. Some were set on fire and reduced to smouldering rubble.

"Maputo Central Hospital is operating in critical conditions, more than 200 employees have not been able to reach the site," its director Mouzinho Saide told AFP, adding that nearly 90 people had been admitted with injuries.

Firearms and four by knives injured forty, he added.

The main roads to Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola were blocked by barricades and burning tyres. The road leading to Maputo airport was also largely impassable.

Despite Christmas eve, shops and even small neighbourhood grocery stores were closed in Central Maputo. Public transport was also paralysed, with only ambulances and funeral vehicles running.

Chaos in other cities:

The unrest also spread in country's other cities including the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambezia and Tete.

Over 100 people have already died in the unprecedented post-election violence.

Earlier, Chapo won 65.17 percent of the vote, more than five points lower than the initial results declared by the country's electoral commission.

In the National Assembly, Frelimo has a majority of 171 seats out of 250, down 24 from the announcement in October. He is due to take office in mid-January.

With agency inputs.


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