More than 1,500 prisoners escaped on Wednesday from a high-security prison in Maputo, during the third day of unrest that shook Mozambique since the confirmation of the electoral victory of the party in power, denounced as fraudulent by the opposition.
In total, 1,534 prisoners fled from that prison, located about 15 kilometers from the capital, said the head of the national police, Bernardino Rafael.
How was the escape?
During the escape “there were clashes with prison officers”, with a death toll of 33 dead and 15 injured among the fugitives. The search operations allowed the recapture of 150 escapees,” he added.
About thirty fugitives belong to jihadist organizations that have been spreading terror in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, in this southern African country, for seven years.
“29 terrorists who had been convicted were released and this situation worries us,” said Bernardino Rafael.
According to the police chief, groups of protesters approached the penitentiary center and created confusion, causing disturbances inside the establishment, where the inmates broke down a wall through which they escaped.
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On Wednesday, barricades continued to be erected in various parts of the capital, filtering out the few vehicles that were trying to circulate, and acts of vandalism continued.
Numerous barricades are still standing and acts of vandalism are multiplying in the city. Shops have also been looted since Monday and several ambulances have been set on fire, an AFP correspondent said.
Some protesters set up tables in the streets, to maintain the occupation of the area while they celebrated Christmas with their families or neighbors in popular neighborhoods of Maputo.
The Constitutional Council ratified on Monday the victory of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), in power since the independence of this former Portuguese colony in 1975.
According to the country’s highest court, its candidate Daniel Chapo, 47, obtained 65% of the votes in the October 9 elections, compared to 24% for his main opponent, Venancio Mondlane.
Mondlane, who denounces a fraudulent electoral process, had announced before the Constitutional Council’s pronouncement that attributing the victory to Frelimo could plunge the country into “chaos.”
The insecurity that exists in Mozambique
At least 150 people died in two months of demonstrations, strikes and blockades.
The government said Tuesday that 21 people had died, including two police officers, since Frelimo’s victory was confirmed the day before.
In that same period, 236 “acts of serious violence” were recorded that left 25 injured, 13 of them police officers,” explained the Minister of the Interior, Pascal Ronda.
“Groups of individuals with knives and firearms attacked police stations, detention centers and other infrastructure,” Ronda reported, including a prison from which 86 inmates escaped, before the mass escape on Wednesday.
The police chief said for his part that he feared a worsening of insecurity in the coming days, given the prospect of the fugitives joining criminal gangs.