A climate of fear has settled in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique which has been subject to barricades, looting and vandalism for several days, after the disputed confirmation of the victory of the ruling party in the October elections. Its inhabitants are starting to lack everything: food, fuel and medicine.
The spectacular escape of more than a thousand inmates from a maximum security prison on Wednesday is also fueling wild rumors. Many were woken up in the middle of the night by neighbors or noise in the street, and neighborhood patrols were set up.
“My neighbor woke me up, telling me that men armed with machetes were moving around,” Maria Amelia, a 55-year-old cleaning woman, who lives in Matola, the large town neighboring Maputo, told AFP.
“When I went out, I saw my neighbors, armed with knives to defend themselves against these invaders. But I didn’t see anyone. I was terrified.”
Armand Tembe, 40, who works in a bank in Maputo, was also taken out of bed before dawn. “I haven’t seen any criminals outside. But it’s starting to get scary. I don’t know where the country is going,” he comments in disappointment.
“We stayed up until 4:30 a.m. and patrolled for something that we only heard about and that no one saw,” confides another woman who wants to remain anonymous. “It was just hearsay, it gives the impression of a macabre plan.”
Until now, “no verified report has mentioned attacks of this type”, summarizes Mozambican researcher Borges Nhamirre, based in Pretoria, to AFP.
But the fact that the police chief, Wednesday evening in front of the press, “announced that detainees could ‘visit’ houses fueled concern”, he underlines.
“The prevailing sentiment in the conversations suggests that the government may have invented this crisis to control the ongoing social unrest,” he adds.
– “Manipulation” –
In the streets of Maputo, barricades are slowly being dismantled. The army is cleaning certain roads, AFP noted. And people shyly leave their homes to look for basic necessities.
“I’m looking for bread,” explains Isabel Rocha, 29, in traditional capulana. “The bakeries have been closed for four days. In fact we lack everything. Even the small grocery stores are closed,” she confided to AFP in the Laulane district, after a sleepless night due to rumors about the insecurity.
Lina Chauque, 47, sits on the sidewalk, a large bag containing salads and cabbages next to her. With several other discouraged women, she has been waiting for two hours for a bus that does not come, to go and sell her products at the market.
“We tried to ask for help from a few trucks that passed by, but the drivers wouldn’t take us.”
A little further on, cars queue patiently in front of a gas station. Only one pump is still working, refueling remains complicated by obstructed circulation.
“I am looking for medicine for myself and for my mother,” explains Tomas Panguene, 65, who suffers from knee pain. “Yesterday I went out to find a pharmacy but the streets were still barricaded. I found what I needed this morning.”
The main opponent, Venancio Mondlane, continues to denounce rigged results regarding the October 9 election.
The confirmation on Monday by the highest court in the country of a large victory for Frelimo, in power for half a century, ignited the powder, triggering urban riots which left more than 125 dead in a few days, according to the local NGO Plataforma Decide.
“We know who the real bandits are, it’s Frelimo,” he asserted on Friday on social networks, believing that the security patrols are a “manipulation” to “distract” attention from the political protest .
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