Africa-Press – Mozambique. According to a statement from Frelimo’s political commission, the matter was addressed at its 51st ordinary session in Maputo on Monday, chaired by the party leader and head of state, Daniel Chapo, with that body stating that it “condemns the acts of barbarity committed against citizens and agents of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique” (PRM).
The political commission of the party in power in Mozambique since 1975 adds that it “considers the cases that have occurred in the country an affront to public order and tranquillity.”
“We therefore urge the competent bodies to investigate and clarify the cases, as well as calling for greater collaboration from the population in the fight against crime,” the statement reads.
Three of the four people who died on Friday in Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo, in a shootout with the police, belonged to the group of more than 1,500 inmates who escaped from prison in December, the police announced on Sunday.
“It was possible to identify three of the four deceased. They have been on the run from prison since December 2024, and are accused of crimes such as kidnapping, robbery and homicide,” the spokesperson for the National Criminal Investigation Service, Hilário Lole, told Lusa.
The four people in question were killed in a shootout with officers during an operation to prevent a robbery at a construction company in Matola, on the outskirts of Maputo.
Three episodes in less than a month
This was the third violent event of its kind in Matola in less than a month, with Mozambican police officers being the fatal victims in the first two cases.
Last Wednesday, the PRM confirmed the murder of two officers, target of 54 gunshots, on the morning of that day. Gunfire also injured a 78-year-old woman, also in Matola.
The first case of this wave of violence in Matola occurred on June 11, when an officer from the PRM Rapid Intervention Unit was killed with around 50 gunshots in the Nkobe neighbourhood, by three individuals as yet unidentified.
On December 25, 1,534 inmates escaped from prison after riots in the Special Maximum Security and Provincial Penitentiary of Maputo, located only 14 kilometres from of the capital.
Thirty-five people died during the riot, according to the National Penitentiary Service of Mozambique, which also announced in January that 332 inmates had been recaptured.
Around 2,000 inmates escaped from prisons throughout the country last year.
On June 9, Minister of Justice Mateus Saize reported that “around half of those who escaped” were already back in the hands of the prison authorities.
Mozambique has experienced almost five months of social tension, with demonstrations, initially in protest against the election results of October 9, called by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, resulting in the deaths of at least 400 people and the destruction of property.
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