At least seven people were killed in protests during Daniel Chapo’s inauguration, according to a local NGO
Mozambique’s long-ruling Frelimo party candidate, Daniel Chapo, has been sworn in as president following months of deadly protests in the southern African country over his October 9, 2024 election victory.
Chapo took his oath of office on Wednesday in the capital, Maputo, becoming the fifth president of Mozambique since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Guinea-Bissau’s Umaro Sissoco Embalo were among the African leaders who attended the ceremony at Independence Square.
The event came despite several NGOs, led by the Pan-African Lawyers Union, filing a petition with the African Court challenging Chapo’s victory and condemning the abuse of anti-government demonstrators.
Plataforma Decide, a local election observer group, said police killed seven people during protests against the 48-year-old lawyer’s inauguration.
“It was supposed to be a day of celebration, but the demonstrations have taken on new proportions and we have more dead in Maputo and Nampula,” the non-profit organization wrote on X on Wednesday.
More than 300 Mozambicans have been killed in such protests since October 21, according to Plataforma Decide.
Mozambique has been in turmoil since the electoral authority declared Chapo president-elect in the disputed elections. He received 71% of the vote, while his main rival, Venancio Mondlane, received 20%, according to earlier electoral commission results. However, the Mozambican Constitutional Council ruled last month that Chapo had won with 65% and Mondlane received 24%.
Mondlane claims to have won 53% of the vote, and has accused the country’s election institutions of rigging it in favor of Frelimo, which has held power for nearly five decades. The opposition leader called for a nationwide strike to protest Chapo’s inauguration, which reportedly led to the closure of most businesses in Maputo on Wednesday and largely empty streets.
In a speech following his inauguration, Chapo promised to make political and social stability his government’s top priority.
“Social harmony cannot wait, nor can the construction of consensus on the matters that concern the Mozambican people,” he said in an address published by state-owned outlet AIM.
The president also vowed to address corruption and unemployment and implement reforms, including shrinking the size of the government by reducing the number of ministries to save about $266 million per year.
“This money will be redirected to where it really matters – to education, health, agriculture, water, roads and energy to improve the lives of our people,” he stated.
