The president of the Democratic Revolution (RD) party, Vitano Singano, a Renamo dissident, is accused of “conspiracy” in a crime of “violently altering the rule of law”, which also targets presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, according to the Mozambican Attorney General's Office.
According to a source from the Attorney General's Office (PGR), the case is a criminal case that is being processed by the Central Office for Combating Organized and Transnational Crime (GCCCOT), after "indicative elements" were found against the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo "involved", in "coordination with a group of individuals, at large", including members of the Defense and Security Forces (FDS) and political parties, "for the mobilization and recruitment of more members of the FDS "and more individuals with military experience, especially in reserve conditions".
This recruitment aimed at "the assault on some military and police units, destruction of the National Road EN 1 using homemade bombs (Molotov cocktails) and dynamite used to explode rocks in mining operations, with a view to preventing any military or police support from the central or northern areas while the attack on Ponta Vermelha [official residence of the President of the Republic] was being carried out, in the action that would take place on November 7, 2024", states the PGR, in a statement an allusion to the "march on Maputo", called for that day by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who is contesting the results of the general elections of October 9.
According to the PGR, in this case three defendants were arrested and brought before the Maputo City Court for initial questioning, with the measure of preventive detention being applied to the president of the RD - a political group formed by former dissident guerrillas of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) -, bail to another and provisional release with a Term of Identity and Residence (TIR) to the third.
However, it is mentioned that, in the same proceedings, "other defendants who are at large are indicted, among them presidential candidate Venâncio António Bila Mondlane".
"The charges against the defendants include, among others, the practice of the crimes of conspiracy or conspiracy to commit a crime against the security of the State and violent alteration of the rule of law", the PGR also states.
At least 25 people have died and another 26 have been shot in the last five days of protests contesting the results of the general elections in Mozambique, according to an update from the Decide electoral platform, released today.
The deaths and shootings occurred between 13 and 17 November, in at least five Mozambican provinces, during the fourth stage of strikes called by presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who is contesting the victory of Daniel Chapo, a candidate supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), who won with 70.67% of the votes, according to the results announced by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).
According to the electoral monitoring platform, there were also 135 arrests in Mozambique following the protests, most of which were recorded in Zambézia, in the centre of the country, with a total of 25 detainees.
Venâncio Mondlane, who came in second place with 20.32% of the votes, according to the CNE, stated that he did not recognize the results of the elections, which still need to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, which has no deadline for doing so and is still analyzing the dispute.
After protests that paralyzed the country on October 21, 24 and 25, Mondlane once again called on the population to a general strike lasting seven days, starting on October 31, with nationwide protests and a demonstration concentrated in Maputo on November 7, which caused chaos in the capital, with deaths, barricades, burning tires and gunfire and tear gas fired by the police throughout the day to disperse the protesters.
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