Mozambique: Government Says No Political Prisoner in Mozambique

12 April 2001
Panafrican News Agency (Dakar)

Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambican Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi on Thursday categorically denied that there were political prisoners in Mozambique.

"In Mozambique no one is jailed because of their political opinions", Mocumbi told journalists in Maputo.

Commenting on remarks made by Member of Parliament Vicente Ululu of the main opposition Renamo party, the Prime Minister said: "No one tells the police to arrest people because they are members of other political parties, or because they speak out against the government".

Ululu had claimed that those facing trial on charges arising from the riots of 9 November 2000 in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, in which dozens of people died, are "political prisoners".

If the government locked up its critics, Mocumbi told the journalists, "then none of you would be here today".

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