NGO wants to sue Mozambique state over alleged kidnapping of activist

The Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), a non-governmental organization (NGO), wants to sue the Mozambican state for allegedly abducting an activist by police on Tuesday evening and releasing him today.

“We want to hold the Mozambique state accountable through its agents. We have seen the people, we know the police officers who are behind this operation (…) we will refer the case to international bodies to find out how this government, the state of Mozambique, treats its citizens, treats journalists and human rights activists,” she said Adriano Nuvunga, director of the CDD, shortly after the release of the activist, who also calls herself a journalist.

The CDD activist was reportedly detained on Tuesday evening in Maputo while she was live-streaming a protest that began on May 28 by hundreds of former Mozambican Defense and Security Forces officers camped outside the UN office in the United States to demand compensation stemming from the General Peace agreement that ended the civil war in the country.

“This is a kidnapping when the police pursue a citizen who reported a situation occurring on public roads,” said the director of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.

A video circulated on social media by the activist herself showed the moment she was grabbed by agents of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) as she screamed for help and said she was being attacked by the police.

“These police just attacked me and I’m not going to stop filming,” Sheila Wilson shouted before the live broadcast was cut off.

The activist was released this morning and, according to Adriano Nuvunga, the cell phone she used to film the video was confiscated by police.

According to the activist, the police cited orders from superiors to justify her arrest, and also mentioned that she was threatened and forced to delete the video.

“A case has been opened against me (…) I was here last night and my mobile phone, unfortunately, is still confiscated here and I don’t know why,” Sheila Wilson said, speaking to the media after her release.

Lusa contacted the United Nations and Mozambican police for clarification but received no response.

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) called the activist’s detention “disgusting and reprehensible” and expressed relief at her release.

“We hope that the responsible authorities will investigate this incident and take measures to prevent similar situations from happening again,” Renamo said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

Police intervention on Tuesday also led to a “stampede” of hundreds of protesting officers, the group’s leader told Lusa shortly after the police action.

“I cannot confirm whether any arrests have been made. About 200 people were forced to flee in a stampede. The police used force and seven vans arrived, full of police of all types and heavily armed,” said Adolfo Samuel, a spokesman. protester, former high-ranking state security officer.

The General Peace Agreement ended a 16-year war pitted between the government army, of which the applicants were part, and the Renamo guerrillas, who had already disarmed and reintegrated their guerrillas who had fought in that war.

The conflict, which killed thousands of people, ended with the signing of an agreement in Rome on October 4, 1992, between then-President Joaquim Chissano and historical Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, who died in May 2018.

The overall peace agreement collapsed in 2013 following armed clashes between the two sides over disagreements over the general elections.

In 2014, the two sides signed another cessation of hostilities agreement, which was again broken until a third agreement, in August 2019, the Agreement on Peace and National Reconciliation, which led to the disarmament of the armed wing of the main party opposition in Mozambique. .