Mozambique mourns dozens killed in two months of election unrest

One Mozambique family is mourning a 16-year-old girl shot dead on Christmas Day; another is devastated over the loss of a 22-year-old son, brother and breadwinner killed on the sidelines of a protest weeks earlier.

Both deaths are blamed on security forces, as many of the nearly 280 lives lost in more than two months of violence in Mozambique sparked by a disputed election, according to a toll by a local NGO.

Many of the dead were young people who led waves of protests after initial results on October 24 announced the winner was Daniel Chapo of the Frelimo party, in power for half a century.

Rights groups say security forces used live bullets against the protesters, many of them followers of opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who rejects the results which he says were rigged.

But some victims just got caught up inadvertently in the tensions.

Yolanda Jose Luis, 16, was killed in a minibus with eight relatives going to a family Christmas gathering in the city of Chimoio, about 770 kilometres (480 miles) north of the capital Maputo, her brother told reporters.

Their mother, also in the vehicle, said the driver had not noticed police calling him to pull over, Ronaldo Jose Luis, 22, said.

“The police followed the minibus and when it reached a curve, they opened fire. It was at that moment that my sister was hit.”

The killing was listed by NGO Plataforma Decide as among 176 that occurred in the week after the Constitutional Council on December 23 confirmed Chapo’s victory.

The authorities have not issued a recent death toll but accuse crowds of looting and arson. Police have also died in the unrest since the October 9 vote, outgoing President Filipe Nyusi has said.

“I can’t come to terms with Yolanda’s sudden absence,” said Jose Luis, adding his sister was excited to start her last year of school.

“But, in the sadness, I’m trying to contain myself because I need the strength to work to help with the expenses at home,” the air-conditioning technician said.