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Mozambique: Frelimo Political Commission Condemns Riots
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
21 February 2008
Posted to the web 21 February 2008
Maputo
The Political Commission of Mozambique's ruling Frelimo Party has "vehemently condemned" the use of violence in the riots that shook Maputo earlier this month.
Rioting in Maputo was sparked off on 5 October by a rise of up to 50 per cent in the fares charged by private minibuses (known colloquially as "chapas"). Copycat disturbances on a much smaller scale followed in several other southern towns over the next few days.
A Frelimo press release issued on Thursday states that the Political Commission discussed the "causes and consequences" of the demonstrations at a meeting on Wednesday. But the release itself gives no details at all as to what the party considers the causes to have been, and dismisses the fare rise simply as "a pretext".
The demonstrations were characterized "by violence and resulted in the loss of human lives, the theft of property and damage to public infrastructures and to citizens' goods".
Frelimo is reluctant to admit that the Maputo rioters won, with the fare increase being swiftly cancelled. The release puts a positive gloss on this, stating that the government "opted for the path of dialogue, which made it possible to find a solution that satisfied all parties, through compensating the licensed transport operators, which allowed a reduction in the fares".
The Political Commission appealed to the public "to remain calm and serene, to distance itself from violence, and to opt for dialogue to solve any conflicts, resorting to the existing institutional mechanisms to solve them".
It called on Mozambican citizens "to continue acting as agents of peace, contributing to the consolidation of a climate of harmony and social peace, which is important if our country is to remain stable, competitive and safe for investment, a fundamental factor for the eradication of poverty and for development".
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Reducing the cost of living, the release claims, "necessarily involves increasing production and productivity".
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| Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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