Cape Town - Mozambique police officers have been implicated in
the killing of an observer in the run-up to the October 15 general
elections, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday.
Five alleged police officers in a car shot and killed the director of
a local non-governmental organization who had just left a training
session for election observers in the southern town of Xai-Xai on
Monday, HRW said.
"The apparent involvement of police in killing an election observer
is a chilling development that casts a dark shadow over the
Mozambican elections," said HRW southern Africa director Dewa
Mavhinga.
National police spokesman Orlando Mudumane told the human rights
watchdog that police were investigating the killing.
The car carrying the killers sped away after the incident, soon
overturned and crashed, killing two of the alleged perpetrators,
according to Mudumane.
A third man was receiving medical treatment after police officers
detained him, while two others fled the scene.
Four of the five men have been identified as members of the national
police force, Mudumane told HRW.
Police have meanwhile suspended two senior officers over the killing,
pending investigations.
Mozambique is set to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on
October 15, amidst a climate of political tension and violence.
Various human rights groups have already reported abuses during the
campaign phase, including violations of the right to peaceful
assembly, attacks on opposition members and arbitrary arrests of
opposition candidates.
While the poverty-stricken country's brutal civil war ended in 1992,
Mozambique has been marred by frequent outbreaks of civil conflict
as Renamo, the former rebel group-turned-main opposition party,
accuses the ruling Frelimo party of political and economic
exclusion.