Mozambique
predators to attack the press, limiting
their freedom.

Mozambican
economic situation
suffered with the
discovery of hidden
debts.
The year 2016 was characterised by
murders of citizens with links to political parties. Hundreds of politicians
disappeared, mainly in the provinces
of Manica, Sofala, Zambézia, Tete and
Nampula, the most affected by the conflict. In Sofala, about two dozen decomposing bodies were found.
Amnesty International shows in its annual report for 2016 that “intimidation
and attacks against persons who have
expressed dissent or critical views, including journalists, human rights defenders have taken place throughout the
year” (AI, 2016).
The same report shows that in Mozambique “security forces and members
and supporters of the opposition have
committed human rights violations with
impunity, including murder, torture and
other forms of ill-treatment”. The cases
that most featured in the media include
the murder of Jeremias Pondeca, a member of the Council of State and of the
Peace Negotiation Committee, in broad
daylight in the city of Maputo. Besides
this assassination, there were the attack
on the Secretary-General of Renamo,
Manuel Bissopo, and the assassination
of dozens of influential Renamo politi-

cians and Frelimo party secretaries in
conflict zones. This scenario, in addition
to posing threats to political freedoms,
shows that journalists have never been
able to feel that they are rid of these
threats.
In the same period, several journalists reported incidents of death threats and the
use of the Criminal Investigation Police
(PIC) by the Government to intimidate
them. During this period, we recorded
cases of journalists who were informed
by the PIC to give a statement on stories produced in conflict zones. We also
registered cases of attacks on vehicles
belonging to Rádio Moçambique and
Televisão de Moçambique, allegedly
carried out by Renamo’s armed forces.
As a result, Mozambique has been performing worse and worse in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom rankings. For example, from 2014 to 2016,
Mozambique dropped from Number 79
to Number 87.

CASES REGISTERED IN 2016
• In May 2016, the Criminal Investigation Police notified journalist André Catueira to provide statements
about articles published in the Lusa
Agency and in the weekly Savana,
which reported the existence of a
mass grave with 120 bodies in the
Gorongosa forests;
• On May 27, MISA Moçambique reported acts that it considered to be
violations of the exercise of freedom
of expression and demonstration in
Mozambique, following the shooting of the academic and commentator of the programme “Pontos de
Vista” of Stv, José Jaime Macuane,
and the physical attack on the president of the Ecologist Party of Mozambique, João Massango, who was
preparing to hold a press conference

So This is Democracy? 2016

61

Select target paragraph3