Maputo — Mozambique's main opposition party, Podemos, has claimed that 106 of its members and supporters have been murdered in recent months, particularly since 21 October, when the mass demonstrations against election results regarded as fraudulent began.

According to the Podemos general secretary, Sebastiao Mussanhane, cited in Monday's issue of the independent newssheet "Mediafax', almost all the victims were shot dead.

Mussanhane blamed the killings on the Mozambican police (PRM), and agents of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic). He claimed that Sernic agents are going from house to house hunting down people accused of organising demonstrations against the election results, and against the investiture of the new government.

The murders of Podemos militants, said Mussanhane,'are an attempt to silence or eliminate all those identified as leaders of the demonstrations which the country has been witnessing since the results of the 9 October general elections were announced'.

He said the harassment of Podemos supporters is continuing, citing, as one of the most recent examples, the disappearance of the journalist Arlindo Chissale.

Chissale, a reporter on the online publication "Pinnacle News', was well known as a Podemos supporter. He disappeared on 7 January while travelling from his home in Pemba, capital of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, to Nacala, in the neighbouring province of Nampula

Since that date, his family has heard nothing from Chissale, and it is feared that be may have been murdered or kidnapped.