This Wednesday, the Prime Minister promised the Secretary-General of the United Nations the Portuguese Government’s commitment to ensuring “containment, capacity for dialogue” and work so that there is no escalation of violence in Mozambique.
Luís Montenegro was speaking at the end of a meeting lasting around an hour with the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, at the Prime Minister’s official residence, in São Bento (Lisbon).
The head of government said he had conveyed to Guterres a particular concern about “a concrete situation that says a lot to Portugal and the Portuguese, which is the situation in Mozambique”.
“I had the opportunity to tell the Secretary-General that we will strive to be able to guarantee containment, to be able to guarantee the capacity for dialogue, to be able to guarantee that there is no escalation of violence in Mozambique to the point of overcoming it, in respect for the institutions and values democracy, the impasse that has been created and the conflict in the streets that has unfortunately marked the last few days in that friendly and brotherly country”, he stated.
At least 67 people died and another 210 were shot in a month of demonstrations, since October 21, to contest the results of the general elections in Mozambique, according to the update made on Saturday by the Mozambican Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Plataforma Eleitoral Decide.
Presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has called for these demonstrations, which degenerate into clashes with the police – who have resorted to firing tear gas and shots to disperse them – as a way of contesting the attribution of victory to Daniel Chapo, a candidate supported by the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo, in power), with 70.67% of the votes, according to the results announced on October 24 by the National Elections Commission (CNE), which have yet to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
