Daniel Chapo of Mozambique’s long-ruling Frelimo occasion was sworn in as president on Wednesday at a sparsely attended ceremony after months of protests in opposition to his disputed election victory.
An area civil society monitoring group says greater than 300 folks have been killed in clashes with safety forces for the reason that Oct. 9 vote, which the opposition says Frelimo gained by vote-rigging and Western observers say was not free and honest.
DEATH TOLL IN MOZAMBIQUE FERRY DISASTER CLIMBS TO 98
Frelimo denies accusations of electoral fraud.
It has dominated Mozambique for the reason that finish of the warfare in opposition to Portuguese colonial rule in 1975, clinging on all through a 15-year civil warfare that killed one million folks earlier than a 1992 truce.
Chapo informed a bunch of about 1,500 supporters from a stage within the capital Maputo that social and political stability could be his authorities’s prime precedence.
He additionally promised to shrink the dimensions of the federal government by decreasing the variety of ministries, deal with youth unemployment and prioritise well being and schooling.
Town centre was largely abandoned with a heavy police and armed forces presence, Reuters witnesses mentioned.
Cyril Ramaphosa, president of neighbouring South Africa, was one of many few heads of state attending Chapo’s inauguration.
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Opposition chief Venancio Mondlane, who official outcomes say got here second to Chapo within the presidential election, returned from self-imposed exile final week and has urged his supporters to proceed demonstrating.
The post-election protests quantity to the most important in opposition to Frelimo in Mozambique’s historical past and have affected overseas companies working within the resource-rich southern African nation of 35 million folks. They’ve additionally disrupted cross-border commerce and compelled some to flee to neighbouring nations.
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