28 June 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican police on Friday afternoon forced the cancellation of a demonstration in central Maputo in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, on the grounds that not enough policemen were available to guarantee the security of the demonstration.
At very short notice a few dozen people gathered at Robert Mugabe Square on the Maputo seafront intending to march to the Zimbabwean embassy, in protest at the state-sponsored violence that reduced the second round of the presidential election to a bloodstained charade.
The demonstration was perfectly legal, since the organizers, the Mozambican Human Rights League (LDH) and the Centre for Mozambican and International Studies (CEMO), had informed the authorities of their intentions in good time. Nonetheless, the police said that the march could not go ahead, because the Maputo City Police Command was already providing security for a second demonstration elsewhere in this capital.
AIM was unaware of any other demonstration planned to coincide with the LDH/CEMO march. If such a demonstration took place, it escaped the notice of journalists, since there is no mention of it in Saturday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias". The police were unable to inform the protestors in Robert Mugabe Square of the nature of the second demonstration.
Possibly they were referring to a march by former workers of the port and rail company CFM, demanding further compensation from the company. But that took place on Friday morning, and so there was no clash of times.
The police told the organizers that, since the route of the march took it along busy central Maputo streets, and past embassies, and sensitive public buildings such as ministry's and the office of President Armando Guebuza, it needed more policemen than were available to guarantee security and order.
Faced with this situation, the LDH and CEMO felt they had no alternative but to accept the police instruction, and ask the demonstrators to disperse.
"Our demonstration was not against the Mozambican authorities, and it was not against the Zimbabwean Embassy", said LDH jurist Custodio Dumas. "It was a demonstration to say we are feeling what the Zimbabwean people are going through at this moment. We wanted to say to the Zimbabweans that what is happening to them also affects us, and we see no reason why a demonstration of this sort should not be authorized".
A press release from CEMO pointed out that, because of the wave of violence gripping Zimbabwe, the United Nations, the African Union, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had all urged that the second round of the presidential election be postponed. CEMO itself had held two public debates in Maputo which had concluded that the conditions for holding a genuine election in Zimbabwe did not exist.
Some of the demonstrators, interviewed by Mozambican television stations, called for Robert Mugabe Square to be renamed. The square was given Mugabe's name in 1981, during his first official visit to Mozambique (then as Prime Minister, under the Lancaster House constitution). At the time, Mugabe was regarded as the man who, with Mozambican backing, had liberated Zimbabwe: no-one in 1981 imagined what would happen 27 years later.
Meanwhile the grim farce in Zimbabwe continued as planned. The reports reaching Maputo suggested a low turnout in the cities, but much higher participation in rural areas where the militias loyal to the ruling ZANU-PF intimidated frightened voters to cast their ballots.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who won the first round of the election, told reporters "What is happening today is not an election. It is an exercise in mass intimidation with people all over the country being forced to vote."
Tsvangirai had urged voters not to go to the polling stations - but added that they should not put their lives in danger. If they through they were in danger, they should vote, and if necessary, even for Mugabe. The number of votes Mugabe got would make no difference, since the rest of the world already regarded the election as illegitimate.
Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission, told the BBC he had not seen "the ingredients that make this election free and fair".
He found the turnout in Harare low, and said that observers, spotting a long line of people in one of the city's suburbs, at first assumed they were queuing up to vote - but then investigated closer and found it was a bread queue.
If Mugabe declares himself re-elected, his first test will come next week at an African Union summit in Egypt, which he has promised to attend. The chairperson of the AU Commission, Jean Ping, was optimistic that the AU will be able to reach a satisfactory solution to the Zimbabwean crisis.
He told a Friday press conference, during the meeting of AU foreign ministers preceding the summit, "I am convinced the problem of Zimbabwe will be solved in a credible way. But please give us time to solve it with our heads of state."
Ping also claimed that negotiations were still under way to form a government of national unity but he had not received the latest information on the progress of the negotiations.
Reports from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh suggest that the Zimbabwean delegation had something of a rough ride. According to a delegate cited by the French news agency AFP, during a closed-door session Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi asked to be allowed to make a statement without it being followed by any debate. This procedure roused strong opposition from other ministers, including from Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
"After a discussion lasting more than an hour and a half, these governments insisted that they wanted to hold a debate and to hear from SADC," the delegate said.
Read comments. Write your own.
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.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
It was unfortunate the police felt the march souldn't go ahead. It feels good to see other Africans standing up to for human rights and democracy. That surely leaves the murderous Bob alone with his long gone mates, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Amin ..etc. Pray to God he is the last AFrican dictator. We deserve a chance to show case what a Continent we are.
Looks like President (stolen office) Mugabe will have problems visiting African nations from now on. Protests will follow him wherever he goes. He needs to stay in Harare where his thugs can protect him from anyone with an independent mind. It is great to see Africans protesting their will and showing the world that dictators will no longer be tolerated. Well, at least dictators as brutal as Mugabe.