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Mozambique: Renamo Threatens Journalists in Beira
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
15 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Maputo
Members of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, insulted and threatened reporters covering an extraordinary session of the Beira Municipal Assembly, reports Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
Beira is one of five municipalities (out of 33) where the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition won the 2003 local elections. Thus the opposition candidate, Daviz Simango, became mayor of Beira and there is a Renamo majority in the Municipal Assembly.
The excuse for the verbal onslaught against the press on Wednesday was that a camera operator from the Beira station of Mozambique Television (TVM), Arcanjo Malfo, did not film one of the speeches made by the head of the Renamo group in the Municipal Assembly, Jose Cazonda.
Cazonda was explaining why his group voted against a proposal from the Ministry of State Administration on altering the administrative and territorial boundaries of the municipality. At this point Malfo disconnected the TVM microphone. He later explained that TVM had interviewed Cazonda during an interval on the same issue, so did not think it was worth recording him again.
Renamo members who saw Malfo disconnect the equipment began shouting in protest The Assembly chairperson, Boris Cassucussa, interrupted Cazonda's speech and accused all journalists on duty in that session to be working for the ruling Frelimo party.
"Noticias" reports that a group of Renamo members, including Simango himself and several city councillors, surrounded Malfo shouting and gesticulating. The other reporters went to Malfo's aid, when it seemed that he might be physically assaulted.
Cassacussa and his supporters then threatened all the journalists. Among the shouts were such phrases as "We know you're from Frelimo", "Get out of here, because even without you our meetings will not stop", and "you only come here for meals, you are worth nothing".
The "Noticias" reporter declined to print some of the more outrageous insults, on the grounds that they constituted "an offence against public morality".
Some of the Frelimo members in the Assembly tried to calm the situation down, but in vain, and eventually the reporters all left the room.
"Noticias" describes the incident as "an attack against press freedom". Of that there can be no doubt: sessions of the Municipal Assembly are open to the public, and hence to the press, and it is not the job of the municipal deputies to decide which speeches should be filmed.
The proposal under discussion sought to remove three large and mostly rural areas, Natadouro, Nhangoma and Tchondja, from Beira municipality, and allocate them to Beira district. The surface area of the city would thus be slashed by more than half, declining in size from 633 to 271 square kilometres.
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The Renamo members of the Assembly voted against the proposal, while the Frelimo minority voted in favour.
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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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