Mozambicans flee to neighbouring Malawi amid post-election unrest

Gemfields

27/12/2024 11:53

MAPUTO/BLANTYRE, Dec 27 (Reuters) - More than 2,000
Mozambican families have sought refuge in Malawi this week,
Malawian authorities said, as dozens of people were reported
killed in spreading unrest over a disputed election in October.
    Some businesses including banks were closed in Mozambique's
capital Maputo on Friday and patrols were set up in some areas
following a deadly prison riot and breakout on Wednesday.
    Mozambique has been gripped by violent protests for about
two months since the electoral commission said the ruling
Frelimo party had retained power and its candidate won the
presidency in the election. Frelimo denies opposition
accusations of electoral fraud.
    A decision by Mozambique's Constitutional Council to
validate the election results on Monday triggered more
demonstrations.
    Monitoring group Plataforma Decide put the death toll at 125
since the court's decision and at 252 since late October.
    A senior Malawian official said that as of Wednesday, 2,182
Mozambican households fleeing the violence had crossed into
Malawi's Nsanje district, which borders Mozambique.
    "The situation remains dire as these individuals urgently
require humanitarian assistance," Nsanje district commissioner
Dominic Mwandira said in a letter to the country's commissioner
for refugees seen by Reuters.
    Mozambique's main opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who
the Constitutional Council said had come second in the
presidential election and who rejects the results, has called
for more protests from his supporters but urged them not to loot
and damage infrastructure.
    The unrest has affected foreign firms operating in
Mozambique, including mining companies Gemfields Group  GEMGE.L 
and South32  S32.AX  and petrochemical company Sasol  SOLJ.J .
    Operations at Gemfields' biggest ruby mine in Mozambique
were temporarily halted on Tuesday after violent incidents near
the mine, it said in a statement on Friday.
    More than 200 people had attempted to gain access to a
residential site for mine employees and set fire to structures,
it said. Mozambican security forces shot and killed two people,
Gemfields said.
   The prison riot in Maputo on Christmas Day left at least 33
people dead and saw more than 1,500 prisoners escape before some
were recaptured.
    Frelimo has ruled Mozambique since the end of the war
against Portuguese colonial rule in 1975. Western observers have
said this year's election was not free and fair.
    

 (Reporting by Frank Phiri in Blantyre and Custodio Cossa in
Maputo; Additional reporting by Yamini Kalia; Writing by Bhargav
Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning and Angus MacSwan)
 ((Bhargav.Acharya@thomsonreuters.com))