PROTESTS that have led to weeks of clashes with Mozambique’s security forces need to continue for “maybe two to three months”, the country’s opposition leader has told the BBC.
Venâncio Mondlane has been calling on his supporters to protest against the results of October’s presidential elections, in which he came second to the candidate from the governing Frelimo party.
The weeks-long demonstrations have led to violent encounters with the police and at least 67 people have been killed, local monitoring group Plataforma Decide said.
Mondlane, who is now in hiding, told the BBC he thinks pressure from the protests could force Frelimo into negotiations.
“But [they] need to carry on for longer, maybe two to three months, in this same pace,” Mondlane continued.
“The combination of diplomatic contact, protests and international pressure will do it.”
He said there is “no way” he can accept the election result, in which Frelimo’s candidate Daniel Chapo won with a whopping 71% of the vote.
Mondlane, an evangelical pastor who stood as an independent after breaking away from the main opposition Renamo party, got just 20%.
The electoral commission denied Mondlane’s allegation that the poll was rigged in favour of Frelimo, who have been in power since independence 49 years ago.
But international election observers have said the elections were flawed, pointing to doctored numbers and other irregularities during the counting process.
Mondlane spoke to the BBC via video call from an undisclosed location, saying he could not reveal his whereabouts for safety reasons.
He disappeared from public view on 20 October – prior to the election results being released – accusing the police of threatening behaviour not long after two of his aides were shot dead.
At one point, Mondlane was hiding out in South Africa, where he said he was the target of an assassination attempt.