Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambique's Human Rights and Development Association on Friday denounced a "witch-hunt" of opposition supporters by the police following the clashes of 9 November between the police and demonstrators organised by the main opposition Renamo party.

In its report on human rights for 2000, the body accused the police of hunting down Renamo supporters in almost all the districts of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, regardless of whether they had been at scenes of violent demonstrations or not.

"In Pemba, Chiure, Balama and Mocimboa da Praia, dozens of Renamo members, or simple citizens, were dragged into jail in retaliation for the deaths of policemen and other civil servants during the Renamo insurrection of 9 November in Montepuez", the report noted.

Montepuez was the scene of the worst of the November violence. DHD thought the government was largely to blame for this for failing to take measures against the demonstration, even though it was clear right from the start that it would turn violent.

This was followed by a "vengeful and inhuman" wave of arrests, that culminated in the death by asphyxiation of "around 100 citizens" in a grotesquely overcrowded police cell in Montepuez.

The official death toll in the Montepuez cell is 83 - but human rights organisations note that the police had no proper records of how many people were in the cell. It is therefore entirely possible that the real death toll was higher.

DHD called on the government for "punitive measures" against all those responsible for the slaughter in the Montepuez police cell - but also against those who knew that a violent riot was being planned for 9 December and did nothing to prevent it.

The DHD report notes that the situation in Mozambican prisons is deteriorating, due largely to overcrowding. It cited the example of the Maputo Central Prison, built to house 800 inmates, now contains 2,303 prisoners.