Renamo and police clash in Gondola

The clashes, in the area of Chicata, were first announced by Renamo spokesperson Antonio Muchanga at a Maputo press conference the same day. Journalists who visited the area, from the independent television station STV, and from the Sunday paper “Domingo”, have confirmed the shooting.

Police spokespersons told the reporters that Renamo had opened fire first. The police unit was on its way to Chicata, when it came under fire at the village of Mussatua. Local people told the “Domingo” correspondent, Domingos Boaventura, that a number of people had died in the clash, but neither STV nor Boaventura reported seeing any bodies.

Chicata and Mussutua are near the site of the clash on 25 September on the Zimbabwe-Beira road which the police say left over 20 members of the Renamo militia dead. “Domingo” says that Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama took refuge in Chicata after the 25 September events. Renamo gunmen, presumably some of those who had been escorting Dhlakama on 25 September, set up base in a local primary school.

The shooting brought life in Mussatua to a standstill. Local residents fled from the area and sought safety in urban areas such as Gondola town or the provincial capital, Chimoio. Nearby schools closed, as did markets and informal stalls.

A teacher named Marta Penicela told Boaventura that she had sent her pupils home because “there are no conditions for continuing classes. We heard shooting early in the morning. The shots came from all sides. The only thing I did was send the pupils home so that they could be with their parents. I ran to the main road. I’m going to the city (Chimoio), and I’ll only return when I am certain that the conflict in the area is over”.

Penicela wanted the resumption of dialogue between the government and Renamo. “They should meet and discuss their differences”, she said. “We’re tired of war. We lived through it for 16 years”.

Muchanga claimed that the police had burnt down homes of the local population, but the STV crew could find no evidence of this. The only destroyed house they found had burnt down days before the arrival of the police, apparently as a result of an uncontrolled bush fire.

A further clash between the police and the Renamo militia was reported from the neighbouring province of Tete. At a Saturday press conference, reported by Radio Mozambique, the head of public relations for the Tete provincial police command, Deolinda Matsinhe, announced that a police unit had suffered an ambush on Friday at Ndande village, in Moatize district.

A bullet had pierced a police vehicle but Matsinhe did not report any deaths or injuries. She pledged that the police are working to restore calm to Moatize and the neighbouring district of Tsangano, the two areas in the province where the presence of Renamo gunmen has been reported.