The Fort Worth Press - Thousands welcome Mozambique opposition leader as he returns from exile

USD -
AED 3.673055
AFN 71.726294
ALL 90.628228
AMD 391.112005
ANG 1.790208
AOA 915.999706
ARS 1075.353385
AUD 1.65233
AWG 1.8025
AZN 1.702577
BAM 1.78767
BBD 2.022522
BDT 121.703761
BGN 1.784998
BHD 0.376761
BIF 2976.850879
BMD 1
BND 1.34937
BOB 6.936612
BRL 5.912036
BSD 1.001709
BTN 85.993456
BWP 14.089064
BYN 3.278185
BYR 19600
BZD 2.012102
CAD 1.419155
CDF 2871.000027
CHF 0.859565
CLF 0.025825
CLP 991.009726
CNY 7.308601
CNH 7.359315
COP 4392.25
CRC 508.269316
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 100.78607
CZK 23.045698
DJF 178.377193
DKK 6.83366
DOP 62.99702
DZD 133.831999
EGP 51.349897
ERN 15
ETB 132.597278
EUR 0.915475
FJD 2.329756
FKP 0.785678
GBP 0.78522
GEL 2.75013
GGP 0.785678
GHS 15.525941
GIP 0.785678
GMD 71.501759
GNF 8668.628777
GTQ 7.731751
GYD 210.184271
HKD 7.769015
HNL 25.629096
HRK 6.898101
HTG 131.05585
HUF 373.441497
IDR 16936.7
ILS 3.767902
IMP 0.785678
INR 86.185799
IQD 1312.212645
IRR 42099.999675
ISK 132.639977
JEP 0.785678
JMD 157.974114
JOD 0.708903
JPY 147.510504
KES 129.450294
KGS 86.832703
KHR 4008.444603
KMF 450.501791
KPW 899.976479
KRW 1479.865051
KWD 0.30787
KYD 0.834803
KZT 525.122711
LAK 21690.447246
LBP 90299.007258
LKR 298.358348
LRD 200.336362
LSL 19.404038
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.555606
MAD 9.549655
MDL 17.770242
MGA 4675.331798
MKD 56.233579
MMK 2099.38476
MNT 3509.76811
MOP 8.015777
MRU 39.860083
MUR 45.102157
MVR 15.398176
MWK 1736.956601
MXN 20.617598
MYR 4.488504
MZN 63.910098
NAD 19.404216
NGN 1549.920082
NIO 36.85781
NOK 10.918425
NPR 137.593119
NZD 1.78825
OMR 0.384972
PAB 1.001691
PEN 3.686611
PGK 4.07488
PHP 57.314034
PKR 280.854273
PLN 3.931259
PYG 8018.975714
QAR 3.651387
RON 4.556199
RSD 107.234978
RUB 85.524576
RWF 1412.379803
SAR 3.753762
SBD 8.316332
SCR 14.348286
SDG 600.499838
SEK 10.027605
SGD 1.35143
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.750328
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 572.465358
SRD 36.663968
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.764842
SYP 13001.558046
SZL 19.398006
THB 34.815499
TJS 10.883315
TMT 3.5
TND 3.072894
TOP 2.342103
TRY 38.011701
TTD 6.788724
TWD 33.023045
TZS 2689.999685
UAH 41.104804
UGX 3722.898614
UYU 42.190313
UZS 12969.361266
VES 73.26602
VND 25990
VUV 125.059451
WST 2.843211
XAF 599.573142
XAG 0.033129
XAU 0.000333
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.745677
XOF 599.578622
XPF 109.008811
YER 245.649918
ZAR 19.49135
ZMK 9001.203214
ZMW 28.022998
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    60.2700

    60.27

    +100%

  • CMSD

    -0.3500

    22.48

    -1.56%

  • CMSC

    -0.1200

    22.17

    -0.54%

  • BCC

    -3.5500

    91.89

    -3.86%

  • SCS

    -0.3800

    10.2

    -3.73%

  • RIO

    -0.1100

    54.56

    -0.2%

  • BCE

    -0.6300

    22.08

    -2.85%

  • GSK

    -1.6900

    34.84

    -4.85%

  • BTI

    -0.4300

    39.43

    -1.09%

  • NGG

    -3.0300

    62.9

    -4.82%

  • RELX

    -2.6300

    45.53

    -5.78%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0800

    8.15

    -0.98%

  • JRI

    -0.7000

    11.26

    -6.22%

  • VOD

    -0.1500

    8.35

    -1.8%

  • AZN

    -2.6700

    65.79

    -4.06%

  • BP

    -1.2100

    27.17

    -4.45%

Thousands welcome Mozambique opposition leader as he returns from exile
Thousands welcome Mozambique opposition leader as he returns from exile / Photo: © AFP

Thousands welcome Mozambique opposition leader as he returns from exile

Thousands of people turned out to meet Mozambique's main opposition leader after he returned home from more than two months in exile Thursday to push his claim that he won the October presidential election.

Text size:

Security forces barred supporters from going to Maputo's international airport to meet Venancio Mondlane as he landed, with at least one person shot and wounded at one of the barricades, an AFP photographer said.

But thousands gathered later at a market in the centre of the city, chanting "Venancio" and blowing whistles and vuvuzelas as Mondlane, flanked by security guards, stood on the top of a car and waved and pointed to the crowd.

His vehicle was thronged by large crowds as it left the area. Riot police fired tear gas that dispersed the gathering, an AFP reporter said.

Mondlane's return comes a week before the inauguration of the next president, Daniel Chapo, the candidate of the ruling Frelimo party who was proclaimed winner of the vote.

Mondlane claims the vote was rigged in favour of Frelimo, which has held power for 50 years. He says a separate count showed that he won the vote, which he repeated at the airport.

Raising a hand as if taking an oath, Mondlane said in front of journalists that he was the "president... elected by the genuine will of the people".

The dispute over the election results has unleashed waves of violence that have left around 300 people dead, including protesters killed in a police crackdown, according to a tally by a local rights group.

Via regular and widely followed social media addresses, Mondlane directed the demonstrations from an unknown location abroad.

- Uncertainty -

The unrest has caused major losses to Mozambique's economy, stopping cross-border trade. Shipping, mining and industry have also been affected, while thousands of people are reported to have fled to neighbouring countries.

Soon after exiting the terminal, Mondlane knelt on the ground, a bible in his hand.

"I'm here in the flesh to say that if you want to negotiate... I'm here," he told reporters, in a message for the authorities.

The government has called for dialogue to end the dispute but ignored Mondlane's request for the talks to be held virtually while he was out of the country.

The opposition leader said he had also returned to "witness" what he said were attacks and the kidnapping of his supporters and to face any criminal charges the authorities had laid against him.

There had been no political agreement, Mondlane said. "I came to make history, I didn't come to have a position, I didn't come to have a role, I didn't come to have perks."

There were fears ahead of his arrival that Mondlane could be arrested, including on charges related to the weeks of protests by his supporters, many of them young Mozambicans desperate for change.

Any government action against Mondlane could send Mozambique -- still scarred by years of civil war -- into a major crisis, analysts said.

"If the government arrests Venancio, there will be an international outcry and potentially very dangerous demonstrations," said Eric Morier-Genoud, an African history professor at Queen's University Belfast.

"If they don't arrest him, he will occupy the centre and Frelimo will be weakened just a few days before the inauguration of the deputies and the president," he told AFP on Wednesday.

Back in Mozambique, Mondlane will "reclaim the political initiative", Morier-Genoud said.

Mondlane's return "will either destabilise or resolve the current political crisis", said Tendai Mbanje, analyst at the Johannesburg-based African Centre for Governance.

"He is the current hope and future of the youths: if his life is at risk or tampered with, that will be a source of unending instability," he said.

"On the other hand, if Frelimo would like to unite the country, it is time that they take his return as an opportunity for dialogue."

L.Coleman--TFWP