Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane today called for peaceful marches in Mozambique on Monday, condemning the murder of two supporters, saying, quoting the Bible, that the "blood" of the victims "must be avenged", blaming the Defence and Security Forces (FDS).
"Just as the word of God said that the blood of Abel had to be avenged, this blood must be avenged, and it is on your backs [FDS]. Know that you have the blood of these young people on your backs, but the blood of these young people is the beginning of a stage that only God knows how it will end", he said, during a vigil with dozens of people at the site of the murder of the two supporters, in Maputo.
"Monday will be the first stage, peacefully, in which we will paralyze all public and private activity. We will take to the streets with our posters, we will demonstrate our repudiation", announced Mondlane, guaranteeing that the strike, in the public and private sectors, which he had called for Monday, in protest against the preliminary results of the elections of 9 October, will continue, and will now take to the streets.
"Do not exempt yourselves. It was your forces (...) who committed a major crime again", accused Venâncio Mondlane, guaranteeing that he has evidence of the accusation against the FDS, which includes the police.
In Maputo, the march is scheduled to leave at 10:00 local time (one hour less in Lisbon), leaving from the place where the two supporters were murdered on Friday, in the center of the capital.
"If you want to use violence [police], you can do so, but know that after your violence there will come something extraordinarily stronger than all of you and you will regret it, just as in the 1960s, Eduardo Mondlane, Samora Machel, Joaquim Chissano and so many others took up arms because there were people who were shedding the blood of innocent young people here in this same city, today you are replacing the oppressors of yesterday", he accused.
"So do not expect your end to be any different from that of the oppressors of yesterday, just as you freed the oppressors of yesterday, we, today, can free ourselves from the oppressors of today and we have the capacity to do so. We are superior in numbers", he warned, in an emotional statement to the media.
The Mozambican police confirmed today that the vehicle in which Elvino Dias, lawyer for presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, and Paulo Guambe, leader of Podemos, the party that supports him, were travelling, were shot dead, and a third occupant was injured.
The crime took place at around 11:20 pm local time (one hour less in Lisbon) on Friday, on Avenida Joaquim Chissano, in the centre of the capital, and according to the police, another occupant, a woman who was travelling in the back seat of the vehicle, was also shot and taken to Maputo Central Hospital.
Lawyer Elvino Dias, a well-known defender of human rights cases in Mozambique, was a legal advisor to Venâncio Mondlane and the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), a political group that initially supported that candidate for President of the Republic of Mozambique, until its registration for the general elections on 9 October was rejected by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
Venâncio Mondlane would later be supported in his candidacy by the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party, whose national representative for the legislative and provincial lists, Paulo Guambe, was also travelling in the vehicle targeted in the crime.
The general elections of 9 October included the seventh presidential elections - in which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who has reached the limit of two terms, has no longer run - simultaneously with the seventh legislative elections and the fourth elections for provincial assemblies and governors.
The CNE has 15 days, after the polls close, to announce the official results of the elections, which is due on 24 October. The Constitutional Council will then be responsible for proclaiming the results, after it has also concluded its analysis of any appeals, but there is no set deadline for this purpose.
The district and provincial election commissions have already completed the vote count for the general elections of 9 October, which according to public announcements give an advantage to the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, the ruling party) and the presidential candidate supported by the party, Daniel Chapo, with more than 60% of the votes, although presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane disputes these results, claiming that he uses data from the original voting minutes and notices, which he has collected from all over the country.
Venâncio Mondlane assured on Thursday, in Beira, central Mozambique, that after the announcement of the results of the general elections he will appeal to the Constitutional Council, with the original voting minutes and notices.
The Portuguese Government, the European Union and the diplomatic representations in Maputo of the United States of America, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom condemned these murders, among calls for a full and swift investigation.
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