Africa-Press – Mozambique. The re-elected mayor of the central Mozambican city of Quelimane, capital of Zambezia province, Manuel de Araujo, on Saturday attacked Mirko Manzoni, the personal representative in Mozambique of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, for his silence in the face of the use of force by the police against demonstrators protesting against the results of the 11 October municipal elections which they regarded as fraudulent.
Manzoni was a key figure in the demobilization and disarming of the militia of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, under the peace agreement signed between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade, in 2019.
Araujo said that, for the first time, Renamo had gone into an election unarmed, but claimed that the ruling Frelimo Party retains an armed force – by which he apparently meant the police.
“As from today”, he declared, “our marches will for the dismantling of the armed Frelimo, and against that man from Switzerland, Mirko Manzoni, because he made us hand over our guns. He continues to devour the money of the United Nations, and doesn’t open his mouth. He is eating our money, at the cost of the blood of Mozambicans”.
He added that he has sent a message to Guterres, asking him to dismiss Manzoni.
Araujo claimed that Manzoni “is not honest and promotes neither peace nor democracy. A man like this does not deserve to be an advisor to the UN Secretary-General”.
He also called for the dismissal of the chairperson of the National Elections Commission (CNE), Anglican Bishop Carlos Matsinhe, and of Lolo Correia, the General Director of the CNE’s executive body, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE).
But he praised the judges of the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, and President Nyusi for supposedly refusing to accept pressure from senior Frelimo officials in Zambezia who wanted a Frelimo victory in Quelimane.
He claimed that the Frelimo provincial first secretary in Zambezia, Paulino Lenco, and the provincial governor, Pio Matos, had gone to Maputo to persuade Nyusi to order the Constitutional Council to let the preliminary results, under which Frelimo had won, stand.
But Nyusi paid no attention, and on Friday the Council announced definitive results under which Renamo won in Quelimane, and Araujo secured a further term as mayor.
Araujo thus spun an entertaining story, but there is no evidence to suggest that Nyusi was pulling any strings on the Constitutional Council.
Although Araujo was pleased that the Constitutional Council had overturned the preliminary result in Quelimane, he believed that fraud had extended to many other municipalities.
Araujo claimed that Renamo had won in 21 of the 65 municipalities. On Friday, the Council announced Renamo victories in just four municipalities (Quelimane, Chiure, Alto Molocue and Vilanculo) and recounts in four others (Marromeu, Nacala, Gurue and Milanje).
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