Mozambique’s Frelimo-led government must urgently launch investigations into reports of widespread human rights violations committed during the ongoing crackdown on protests following disputed national elections and commit to making the findings public, Amnesty International said.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted on 21 October 2024 following the killing of two prominent opposition-aligned figures. Since then, there have been credible reports of widespread human rights violations with more than 300 people reported killed, including children and bystanders, in an attempt to crush the protests, with the vast majority of deaths blamed on security forces, according to tallies by monitoring groups. Government forces have also shot and wounded more than 700 others and arbitrarily detained thousands, according to the same tallies, with reports of torture and other ill-treatment in custody. The authorities have also reportedly targeted journalists, restricted internet access and deployed the military.
“The crackdown on protests in Mozambique following last year’s election has been appalling. It is the bloodiest election cycle in Mozambique’s post-civil war history, yet the suspected perpetrators have enjoyed complete impunity,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farisè.
President Daniel Chapo must prove his readiness to break this cycle of impunity by championing calls for urgent investigations.
Khanyo Farisè, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
“Mozambique’s new government must promptly open independent, effective and thorough investigations into all deaths, incidents of torture and other ill-treatment, and other reported human rights violations during the ongoing crackdown, with clear timelines to publicize results. President Daniel Chapo must prove his readiness to break this cycle of impunity by championing calls for urgent investigations and ensuring full cooperation with the investigative authorities. He must also ensure effective reparation to victims and survivors and use his authority to end human rights violations by security forces during protests.”
Deadly force during crackdown
Mozambique held national elections on 9 October 2024. Preliminary results showed the ruling Frelimo party candidate Daniel Chapo in the lead, ahead of the opposition PODEMOS party-backed candidate, Venancio Mondlane, who disputed the counts.
On 19 October, amid widespread allegations of vote-rigging, unidentified gunmen ambushed a car in Maputo and riddled it with bullets, killing senior PODEMOS official Paulo Guambe and Mondlane’s legal advisor Elvino Dias.
On 21 October, protests, called by Mondlane, broke out and quickly spread across the country. In the following days and weeks, police responded with unlawful and at times deadly force, with reports of tear gas fired into buildings and bullets shot at protesters.
In early November, with more than 20 reported dead, authorities deployed the military.
By mid-December, the reported death toll had topped 100 with the killings of at least 34 people in a single week. On 23 and 24 December, civil society recorded more than 50 killings as the Constitutional Council announced Chapo the election winner.
The reported death toll reached 300 by the second week of January 2025, with eight more people reported killed during protests on Chapo’s 15 January inauguration. Deaths in the context of protests have continued, with more than a dozen additional deaths reported during demonstrations since the inauguration.
The election is over, but reports of human rights violations have not stopped. Mozambique’s security forces must halt their crackdown.
Khanyo Farisè, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
There have also been dozens of alleged abductions, killings and enforced disappearances outside of protests, including the case of opposition politician and journalist Arlindo Chissale who was allegedly forcibly disappeared on 7 January.
Throughout, repression of the protests has fueled popular anger and sparked apparent reprisal attacks. Bernardino Rafael, who was the Police Commander until Chapo’s inauguration, announced killings of 17 police officers during the unrest. One electoral official was also killed, allegedly by a mob, in apparent retaliation for alleged vote-rigging.
“The election is over, but reports of human rights violations have not stopped,” said Khanyo Farisè. “Mozambique’s security forces must halt their crackdown, stop unlawfully killing people at protests and fulfill their human rights obligation to respect, facilitate and protect protests. Authorities must also protect people from abductions and enforced disappearances and immediately and unconditionally release anyone arbitrarily detained for peacefully protesting or expressing themselves.”
Turning the page
So far, no one has been held accountable for unlawful killings and other human rights violations following the elections.
On 22 November 2024, the Criminal Investigation Service said an investigation was underway into the deaths of Guambe and Dias, but there has been no update on its status since. In late January, President Chapo said in a media interview that his government “would work to investigate the situation” of security forces’ involvement in civilian deaths, but he has announced no further details.
The crackdown on protests in Mozambique following last year’s election has been appalling. It is the bloodiest election cycle in Mozambique’s post-civil war history.
Khanyo Farisè, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
Meanwhile, Mozambique’s attorney general announced on 4 February the initiation of 651 criminal and civil cases in relation to “deaths, bodily harm, or destruction of public or private property, arising from violent protests,” but did not specify whether these cases involve security forces, civilians or both.
“To turn the page on this terrible chapter, Mozambique’s authorities must be up front about the status of the various investigations and cases already announced and launch comprehensive, credible and transparent investigations into all human rights violations committed during the post-election crackdown,” said Khanyo Farisè.
Header image: Protesters carry a protester injured by a rubber bullet fired by riot police in Maputo, on November 7, 2024. Photo by ALFREDO ZUNIGA/AFP via Getty Images.
