The man said he had been injured in the left leg during the attack on the police post at Muxungue, in the central province of Sofala. During the attack, four members of the riot police (FIR), and the local Renamo commander, were killed.
The wounded prisoner, whose name was not given, said the purpose of the attack was to release the 14 Renamo members arrested the previous day, when police seized the Renamo delegation in Muxungue, which they said was being turned into a military camp.
The injured man said the Renamo force did not succeed in releasing the prisoners. As they retreated, he was carried for about two kilometres, and was then left propped against a tree, with the promise that his companions would seek reinforcements and then return for him – which did not happen.
He remained in the bush for five days with neither food nor water. His wound was now infected, and eventually he decided to shout out for help. When he was discovered, police and health workers took him to the Muxungue rural hospital.
According to the chief doctor at the hospital, his condition was so critical that he was transferred immediately to Beira Central Hospital, where his infected leg will be amputated.
There are also reports, not yet confirmed, that a second former Renamo fighteer, was detained on Tuesday in the Inchope área of Manica province. He was in possession of a bag that contained a uniform and a gun. The paper’s source said this man was on his way to the Sofala district of Gorongosa, where Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama is living.
Meanwhile, life in Muxungue is beginning to return to normal. Some shops have reopened, and informal traders are returning to the streets.
But the schools remain closed. Neither teachers nor pupils have appeared. The Muxungue hospital, however, never closed during the days of tension, and on Tuesday patients were being cared for normally.
Post published in: Africa News