Maputo, Mozambique — "They have killed the messenger of truth", declares the latest issue of the Maputo independent weekly Savana, in an editorial dedicated to Wednesday's assassination of Carlos Cardoso, editor of the daily paper Metical.

"They killed Carlos Cardoso because his stance disturbed the corrupt", said the editorial. "They killed Carlos Cardoso because his journalistic investigations laid bare the negligence, incompetence, dishonesty and lack of transparency that are taking over this country".

"They killed Carlos Cardoso because he was a man of integrity, consistent, intransigent even with himself, and someone who forever fought for the truth", it added.

"Carlos Cardoso was not somebody who could be bribed by those who control corruption internally and externally. They killed Carlos Cardoso because he did not know how to lie".

"Cardoso only wrote what his conscience told him was the truth", declared the paper. "There were not two Carlos Cardosos, a false one and a real one. Carlos Cardoso was the same, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year".

He was that rare specimen, "a man who cared more about moral and ethical values than about material possessions".

The names of Cardoso's killers are not yet known - but "Savana" could draw some conclusions.

"Those who killed Carlos Cardoso are not poor, because Cardoso was a defender of the poor", the paper said. "Those who killed Carlos Cardoso are not simple workers, because Cardoso defended the cause of simple workers.

"Those who killed Carlos Cardoso do not support an economy dominated by Mozambicans, because this was the cause for which Cardoso fought. Those who killed Carlos Cardoso are not patriots, because Cardoso himself was someone who fought for the Mozambican motherland".

Other conclusions were also clear. "Those who killed Carlos Cardoso are apologists for what Cardoso used to call the 'gangster' sector of the economy.

"Those who killed Carlos Cardoso are the same people who are killing the development of the country, the same people who prevent Mozambicans from having an increasingly large say in the economy and politics of their country".

Savana demanded that the government, "whose mandate includes the physical protection of its citizens, tell us as soon as possible who are the murderers of Carlos Cardoso, and what punishment they will receive".

"We have had enough of crimes without criminals, thefts without thieves, murders without murderers, corruption without people who are corrupt", exclaimed Savana, referring to the long list of unsolved crimes in the country's recent history.

"We have had enough of generalised lack of governance which is killing the future of this country".

"They have killed the messenger of truth, but they have not killed the message", the editorial concluded. "The message continues, and other messengers will carry it to its correct destination".

Meanwhile, messages of condolence, grief and rage continue to pour into Maputo media offices from all over the world. Some of the messages come from those whose policies Cardoso had always opposed in the pages of Metical.

Thus the World Bank, whose disastrous intervention in the cashew processing industry Cardoso had so often denounced, paid tribute to the fallen journalist in a condolence message published in Saturday's edition of the Maputo daily, Noticias.

"Nothing will make us forget that his contribution to freedom of expression, the free exchange of ideas, and his intellectual honesty were extraordinary contributions to Mozambique", said the Bank.

"And when we were still expecting much more from his greatness of spirit, his integrity and his courage, murderous hands have abruptly deprived us of his presence".

An Internet web page in memory of Cardoso has been opened. It can be consulted on: www.ccardoso.tropical.co.mz