More than 18 months after a disputed election triggered deadly unrest in Mozambique, pressure on political opponents continues to grow. Two members of Anamola, the party founded by former presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, were shot dead in May, while rights defenders report killings, torture and arbitrary detention. This fourth instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines allegations of political repression under Frelimo, the party that has ruled the country since independence.
Sandy alleys wind through Intaca, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Maputo where homes are built from bare concrete blocks and corrugated metal sheets. Heavy rain has left some of them flooded, and families are bailing out water as best they can. Half-lying on a mat outside his small house, one leg in a cast from foot to knee, Amilcar Francisco receives friends who have come to check on him. The activist, who is in his forties, says he was tortured by unknown assailants a week earlier. "As I was leaving work and waiting for the bus, a white car pulled up beside me," Francisco tells RFI. "Six men got out and forced me inside. They put a hood over my head and tied a rope around my neck and my hands." He was driven to a patch of wasteland a few kilometres away, he says, where his attackers beat him and methodically broke his feet with iron bars before leaving him for dead. "They told me: 'You are all going to end up like this.' Then they listed the names and roles of party members – the cell coordinator, the statistics officer." How Cabo Delgado's riches became fuel for the Islamist insurgency in Mozambique A deadly crackdown Francisco is a member of Anamola, the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique. The country was shaken for more than four months after general elections in October 2024 delivered a landslide victory to Frelimo, the Mozambique Liberation Front, which has governed Mozambique since its independence from Portugal in 1975. More than 400 people were killed in the crackdown on protests that followed, civil society organisations said. Persecution has continued since then and intensified as Anamola prepares for its first congress, due to take place from 20-22 June in Nampula, in central Mozambique. Anselmo Vicente, Anamola's coordinator in Chimoio, also in central Mozambique, was shot dead outside his home on 9 May as he returned from a local party meeting. Six days later, party activist Pedro Chauke was shot dead at his home in Gaza province in southern Mozambique. Witnesses described the killers as ruthless and professional. Recent killings were "isolated acts", says Dias Letela, spokesperson for Frelimo's parliamentary group. Former presidential candidate Mondlane, however, blames elements within the country's security services for the violence. A complaint filed against the national police in March 2025 accuses officers of violence against his supporters. In the court file seen by RFI, Mondlane estimates that at least 55 people have been killed and more than 400 assaulted since Anamola was created in August 2025.
