10 October 2008
Maputo — Four people, including a village chief, were lynched in violent incidents between Tuesday and Thursday, in the Ilha Josina Machel locality in the southern district of Manhica, according to Mozambican Television (TVM).
The violence erupted when three suspected cattle thieves, two brothers and one of their friends, were caught by Josina Machel residents. They are said to have confessed to the crime, whereupon the mob tortured them to death, and buried the bodies, against the will of the victims' relatives.
The relatives called on the police to intervene, and the bodies were exhumed and handed to the families for a decent funeral.
Manhica district administrator Otilia Muchanga told reporters that in this operation the riot police had to use force to try and persuade the local residents to disperse.
Thinking that law and order had been restored, the police left Josina Machel but violence erupted again after that, as the families of the three murdered men took their revenge.
Muchanga said that the relatives of the two brothers drew up a list of the alleged killers in order to retaliate. But before they could put this plan into operation, on Thursday morning they came across one of the village chiefs while he was working in his field, attacked him, and killed him on the spot.
In counter-retaliation, another group of Josina Machel residents took whatever weapons they could find, and went to the homes of victims' relatives. Here they set fire to a shop, severely damaging it.
The local authorities described the situation on Thursday as being under control, after a second intervention by the police.
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