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AfricaFocus Bulletin
Thirteen dead, at least 300 injured, and 224 arrested is the toll
of three days of demonstrations against prices rises and the high
cost of living. The main protests were in Maputo and the adjoining
city of Matola, with both cities paralysed on Wednesday and
Thursday (1 and 2 September) and only slightly functioning on
Friday. Activity returned to normal on Saturday, and on Tuesday
September 7, the government announced a reversal of the price
increases.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a summary of the events by
Joseph Hanlon, published on September 8, and a translation of a
report on police conduct by the Center for Public Integrity (CIP)
in Maputo, also released on September 8. The Center calls for a
parliamentary investigation, with involvement of civil society, and
for state compensation for the victims of police violence.
Particularly notable in the CIP report is the documentation on lack
of preparedness and organization of the police actions.
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin released today, and sent out by e-mail
as well as available of the web (http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/moz1009a.php) focuses on the
issues of poverty and inequality that lie behind the demonstrations
earlier this month.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on Mozambique, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/country/mozambique.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note++++++++++++++++++++
Maputo, September 8, 2010
Center for Public Integrity (Centro de Integridade P£blica)
[Following text translated from Portuguese by Google; minor
corrections only made by AfricaFocus Editor. For the full
Portuguese original see the CIP website at http://www.cip.org.mz]
The recent popular revolt in Maputo and Matola was marked by a
disproportionate police response, following which there were
deaths, including at least one child, and hundreds were injured.
These notes prepared by the Center for Public Integrity aim to
characterize the contours of this police action, describing the
cause of the brutal reaction and drawing attention to the
unpreparedness of the Mozambican police in dealing with similar
situations.
The occurrence of deaths was due primarily to the actions of the
police, for which they should be held accountable. In civil terms,
the state should compensate all the families of the dead and defray
the costs of treating the wounded.
A parliamentary committee of inquiry with participation of civil
society must be established to determine the responsibilities for
violent police actions.
Law 19/92, of 31 December, establishing the Police of the Republic
of Mozambique (PRM) provides in article 27 that, if the reported
violence exceeds the capacity for action of Protection Police (PP),
the Rapid Intervention Force (FIR) is called upon to take action.
This is a special force housed in barracks, training daily in
special intervention situations for small and large demonstrations
and other kinds of explicit violence. Police action in cases of
civil disobedience should be within universally accepted standards,
ensuring the physical integrity of citizens.
A study produced by CIP shows that PRM has no means or structure to
face a mass revolt. In the revolt of September 1 and 2, five
assault vehicles of FIR were involved, as well as 18 vehicles from
Maputo police stations, 8 vehicles from police stations in the city
of Matola, and 6 highway patrol vehicles from Maputo City and
Maputo Province. Most of these resources were used to escort
journalists, tourists, health practitioners, as well as trucks with
various goods bound for the provinces.
After the circulation of mobile messages (SMS) calling for a revolt
against the rising prices of essential goods, capable of turning
from peaceful to violent, as in the case of the revolt of February
5, 2008, the General Command of the PRM called a press conference
where it announced to journalists that there was no formal call for
an outbreak and that the messages by phone were just mere rumors.
The lesson of February 5, 2008 was forgotten. In that year, the
popular uprising had only to do with the rise in the price of
semi-collective passenger transport (aka chapa).
This year, the anonymous call originated not in a price rise of one
essential commodity, but several (fuel, bread, electricity, water
and the entire set of imported goods). Given this situation, it was
hoped that the Police would undertake preventive actions, preparing
properly for not so as not to take action under improvisation, as
it turned out. The only preventive measure taken by the General
Command of the Police was to maintain service agents on simple
alert, requiring commanders of Squadrons to remain in their
sub-units and keeping staff members to work normally in their usual
and inhuman regime for 24/24 hours, with no meal break.
In a situation of possible popular revolt, one would hope for an
immediate connection between the specialized FIR and the Police
protection services. But, according to a CIP investigation, no FIR
official went to police stations to make known to staff on duty how
they should respond in case of outbreak of a violent revolt. As a
rule, any actor involved in a mission should be notified in advance
of the purposes of this mission, of their role, of cautions to
take, and of the characteristics of the opponents.
In the early morning hours of September 1, the demonstration soon
turned violent, finding the PRM totally unprepared, and without a
reserve force, because it had not mobilized its own resources in
advance to collect the personnel needed who were not on duty, and
who normally arrive for the workday at 8 a.m.
An immediate consequence of the revolt was the disruption of public
transport services, by express orders, and semi-collective
transport services, a decision by the owners. This interruption
affected the police themselves, since most of the PRM staff live in
the suburbs in precarious conditions and without means to travel to
the workplace. The police was limited to staff who had already been
on duty for 24 hours without a meal, as usual. When supervisors
realized that the uprising was reaching unmanageable levels, the
order was given to supply the staff of police stations with some
anti-riot equipment, including shotguns (rubber bullets) and tear
gas and pepper gas launchers.
To try to contain the spread of the revolt, the police were
deployed without any coordination and without reporting to a single
command (point which should be the Commander of the FIR), making
the police action ambiguous and incoherent. On one side were the
agents of the FIR, fresh after a night rest in the barracks,
properly equipped, trained but poorly educated. On the othher hand,
the PP agents (Police Protection, aka Cinzentinhos), poorly
equipped, hungry, and without response capacity because they had
already worked 24 hours nonstop. A small contingent of officers
from the Border Guard Force (FGF) and the Armed Forces for the
Defense of Mozambique were also mobilized, the latter protecting
the entrances to the luxury condominiums of Sommerschield 1 and 1
and Mahotas neighborhood, where the family residence of President
Armando Guebuza is located.
Once on the ground, the consequences of poor leadership, lack of
unified command, and especially the absence of one or two agents of
the FIR in each Police Station to control operations, the following
took place: on September 1, the PP officers made it to the street
ill-equipped, armed with helmets, vests and weapons such as AK 47s,
and a few shotguns with rubber bullets and gas devices, limiting
themselves to firing indiscriminately, using excessive force, but
not carrying out actions for persuasion and dissuasion as the rules
mandate.
The police was seen to throw huge amounts of tear gas into yards in
residential areas, hitting women and children who had not even been
on the street. There are reports of at least one death caused by
this behavior.
On September 2, the scenario repeated itself:
Apart from the brutal police action, the revolt of 1 and 2
September showed that Mozambique does not have a police force
properly equipped and trained to act with respect for human rights.
And it also provided a painful portrait of a lack of preparation,
shortage or misuse of resources, and corruption:
A state based on the rule of law must be linked to a series of
principles and assumptions to be able to oppose the uncontrolled
use of force. We talk about the rule of law when the fundamental
rights of citizens (including freedom, equality and security) are
recognized and guaranteed. Under the rule of law, police must serve
the citizen and obey constitutional principles. That is not what
happened on September 1 and 2.
Among the core principles for police action, the following should
be taken into account:
The principle of preventive action, which gives the Police the task
of preventing crimes. This principle reinforces the idea that
repression is not the primary police mission.
The principle of minimum intervention, which refers to "the
prohibition of excess" and is intended to limit police actions to
the degree necessary.
The principle of equality, fairness and justice, which governs
police action in which force can only be used once all means of
persuasion and dissuasion are exhausted, seeking to cause the least
damage possible.
Against this background, the Center for Public Integrity demand:
Lastly, we believe that organizations of civil society active in
defending human rights and in initiatives of pro-bono litigation,
should already begin to make a survey of victims of police action
against the state and bring a civil action for damages.
For more information, contact:
September 8, 2010
Joseph Hanlon
Distributed by e-mail. Contact Joe Hanlon <j.hanlon@open.ac.uk>
A wide variety of related background material from Joseph Hanlon,
including earlier issues of News Reports & Clippings but not yet
the most recent issues, can be found on the web at:
http://www.open.ac.uk/technology/mozambique/
Thirteen dead, at least 300 injured, and 224 arrested is the toll
of three days of demonstrations against prices rises and the high
cost of living. The main protests were in Maputo and the adjoining
city of Matola, with both cities paralysed on Wednesday and
Thursday (1 and 2 September) and only slightly functioning on
Friday. Activity returned to normal on Saturday.
In Maputo and Matola young people coordinated by mobile telephone
text message (SMS) blocked all main roads with burning tyres and
other barriers on Wednesday. There was also some looting of shops
and market stalls, and cars and buses were attacked.
There were also disturbances in the Beira corridor (Beira, Chimoio,
Gondola and Vila Manica) with disruptions Wednesday and Thursday.
In Chimoio the main road was blocked and part of a market looted
and burned; demonstrations continued through Friday.
Soldiers and police were still on the streets Monday. Offices were
open but Noticias reported that public transport was still limited,
with many private minibuses (chapas) not running. The free
newspaper @Verdade on its website (http://verdade.co.mz) and Carlos Serra
on his blog report that it was impossible to send text messages
with either mobile telephone company Monday or Tuesday. Yesterday
(Tuesday 7 September) was a public holiday.
Health Minister Ivo Garrido announced the 13 deaths in Maputo and
Matola. Noticias reported more than 290 injuries and 150 arrests in
Maputo and Matola, and six injuries and 68 arrests in Chimoio and
Manica. MediaFax and WampulaFax reported the six people were
arrested in Nampula for trying to organise demonstrations.
Police spokesman Pedro Cossa said repeatedly that the police were
only using rubber bullets and not live ammunition, but this has
been widely contradicted by the media and observers. The government
newspaper Noticias quoted Nat‚rcia Duarte, clinical director of
Hospital Geral Jos‚ Macamo in Maputo, saying that 43 of those
admitted had been shot by firearms. Garrido in an interview with O
Pais published Friday said some of those in the Maputo Central
Hospital had been shot. Noticias reported that two of the injured
in Chimoio were children shot by police in the Francisco Manyanga
neighbourhood.
The free weekly newspaper @Verdade in its 3 September issued
carried the photograph (below) of the body of Helio, an 11-year old
schoolboy who it said was shot in the head by police Wednesday on
Avenida Acordos de Lusaka in Maputo as he returned from school.
A video has been posted on YouTube which appears to show someone
shooting from the first floor of a Frelimo building on Av de Angola
in Maputo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw7XLeuu72U
Detailed coverage of the demonstrations, in Portuguese, is
available on the O Pais website (http://www.opais.co.mz) with pictures,
and on the blog "Di rio de um sociologo" by Carlos Serra
(http://www.oficinadesociologia.blogspot.com) There are also photos
on: http://fotos.sapo.mz/ultimos.html
Accessing the YouTube video also gives links to other videos of the
demonstrations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw7XLeuu72U
In a statement on 1 September, President Armando Guebuza stressed
that "the government is implementing an action plan to increase
food production and in a general way taking actions to struggle
against poverty in urban and rural areas, and has already
registered progress in implementing this plan for food production
as well as the supply of water and sanitation, and improving
transport, communications, health and education."
Price rises which triggered the riots last week have been reversed,
the government announced Tuesday afternoon after an emergency
cabinet meeting.
Wheat will be subsidised to bring bread prices back to what they
were before. Prices had gone up by 18% to 33%. Small loaves rose
from 4.5 to 5.5 meticais (12 US cents to 15›) and rolls from 1.5 to
2 meticais (4› to 6›).
The government also reversed the electricity and water prices rises
on "social tariffs" for small consumers. Electricity consumers who
use less than 100 kilowatt-hours a month will not pay more. For
those who use between 100 and 300 kilowatt-hours a month, the price
increase is reduced from 13.4% to 7%. Richer consumers, who used
over 300 kilowatt-hours a month, will pay the full increase.
Households who use less than five cubic metres of water a month
will continue to pay 150 meticais a month. Prices for urban
electricity and water connections have also been cut. The price of
low grade rice will be cut by 7.5% by removing an import duty. The
surtax on imported sugar will be also temporarily removed.
Subsidies for urban passenger transport will be "maintained and
guaranteed".
The government also announced austerity measures, including a
freeze on wages and allowances of all senior state figures (who
include members of the government itself) and all members of the
boards of public companies and companies where the state is the
major shareholder. These wages must be paid in meticais, and not in
foreign currency. The government also promises to rationalize its
own expenditure on air travel (particularly in business class),
fuel, lubricants and communications.
Many commentators, even in the government daily Noticias, were
critical of the government and consider the demonstrations
legitimate and justified (although usually condemning the
violence.) Writers note that this is a repeat of the 5 February
2008 demonstrations, which means problems have not been resolved.
A selection of articles (in Portuguese) is attached.
"The government has driven its people to desperation, and the
people have responded with violence," wrote Lazaro Mabuda, deputy
editor of O Pais, the second Maputo daily. "We did not choose a
government to present excuses in periods of tension, we chose a
government to provide solutions in time of crisis." He concludes:
"The great dilemma of our country is that our leaders never take
decisions that benefit everyone. Instead they say 'me first, then
the people'."
Instead of just condemning the violence, we should look for the
reasons for the demonstrations, notes Jeremias Langa, editoral
director of O Pais. "Clearly there is a class that feels itself
excluded from the redistribution of income, and believes that the
state has broken the social contract." In particular he talks about
ideas which come to the fore at times of crisis - biofuels, using
Mozambican natural gas for cars, producing wheat in Mozambique,
etc. But when the crisis is over, the ideas are forgotten, and
there is no change.
Mia Couto writes of "youth with no present who attack their
future." With no unions and no parties to represent them, violence
is the only response. The demonstrations may not have been legal,
but they were legitimate; those without a voice are trying to say
something. President Guebuza in his speech talked about the
"marvellous" Mozambican people. But all peoples are "marvellous".
Leaders need to think seriously about poverty, and not just repeat
nice words.
Even the government newspaper Noticias, while criticising the
demonstrations and violence, also printed voices critical of the
government. One letter to the editor stressed that "development
projects are not benefitting the population, but instead have the
tendency to generate political elites and corrupt economies."
Elites talk about "absolute poverty" but do nothing to reduce it.
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