Africa-Press – Mozambique. The family of the leader of the Renamo ‘Military Junta’ splinter group, killed on Monday by government forces, fear persecution or even arrest.
“His whole family is afraid, including his children, and no one will be able to participate,” Jorge Nhongo, the younger brother of the deceased, told the media in Beira via mobile phone from an unknown location in central Mozambique.
According to the brother of the dissident Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) leader, whose followers are blamed for armed attacks in central Mozambique since August 2019, the family fears persecution or even arrest.
“We cannot go there. We are all afraid of being captured or even killed,” Jorge Nhongo said.
Calisto Mariano Nhongo, another of the sons of the leader of the self-proclaimed Renamo ‘Military Junta’, also expressed his fear, claiming, without much detail, that he had already escaped an ambush in the region of Chirassicua, Nhamatanda district, together with his own brothers, who are also now in hiding.
“I can’t say where I am, because I’m also afraid of being persecuted,” Nhongo’s son said.
Mariano Nhongo was killed on Monday (11-10) during an exchange of fire with a Mozambican police patrol in a forest in Cheringoma district, Sofala province, in the centre of the country.
A source from the Defence and Security Forces in Sofala confirmed to Lusa news agency that Mariano Nhongo’s body has not yet been claimed.
On the day Nhongo’s death was announced, the general commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, Bernardino Rafael, said that the guerrilla’s body would be handed over to his family.
