VZCZCXRO7030
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHTO #0781/01 1901428
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091428Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY MAPUTO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7591
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000781 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR HTREGER, AF/RSA FOR MBITTRICK 
MCC FOR SGAULL 
USAID FOR AFR/SA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: POL PGOV PREL MZ
SUBJECT: Mozambique: June Socio-Political Digest 
 
 
¶1. This is a summary of significant socio-political developments in 
Mozambique that occurred during June 2007.  We provide it as a 
supplement to our other reporting. 
 
--  Provincial Elections Scheduled for December 20, 2007; Election 
Process Moves Forward 
 
--  Recent Increase in Crime Rate Viewed as Proof of Ineffectiveness 
of Guebuza Government 
 
--  3 Children, 5 Soldiers killed in two separate Malhazine-related 
Munitions Accidents 
 
--  Former RENAMO Deputy Defects to FRELIMO 
 
--  Police Beat Lawyer 
 
Provincial Elections Scheduled for December 20, 2007; Election 
process moves forward. 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. Against the advice of senior electoral civil servants, December 
20th has been set as the date for the first provincial assembly 
elections. Analysts view the December 20th date as very difficult to 
achieve since the oversight group (CNE) must set up election 
commissions in all provinces and districts and register the entire 
Mozambican electorate within days after the country is set to 
complete its first population census since 1997. An additional 
potential complicating factor is that December is well into the 
rainy season. 
 
¶3.  The Mozambican government (GRM) estimates that the elections 
will cost approximately $44 million of which the GRM is able to 
provide $12 million.  Donors have been asked to pay the balance, but 
largely due to questions concerning the feasibility of organizing 
the registration and election process, no donors have yet offered 
financial assistance. 
 
 
Increase in Crime Rate Viewed as Proof of Ineffectiveness of Guebuza 
Government 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Despite official government statistics noting a decrease in 
crime during 2007 compared with 2006, a recent spate of well 
publicized crimes has led to criticism of the current government. 
Some of the crimes reported in the past several weeks include: a 
gang attacked a police station in Matola city and robbed a car that 
the police had seized earlier that day; criminals stole AK-47s from 
the police and used the weapons to steal $40 thousand from a bank in 
Matola city; and unknown persons shot and injured two policemen 
responding to the attempted robbery of a cell-phone store. 
 
¶5. The inability of the government to deter crime, along with the 
increasingly violent nature of the crimes, is viewed by some as 
proof that current government policies have been ineffective. In 
response President Guebuza has made several public statements and 
visited the Ministry of Interior and several police stations in 
Maputo city. Interior Minister Pacheco noted the criminal activity 
had terrorist characteristics that resembled a war and called for a 
similar police reaction, in which elements of the Mozambican armed 
forces (FADM) would begin patrolling the areas in and around Maputo 
City with regular police officers. Despite these actions, there 
appears to be public doubt that the Guebuza government has the 
ability to control crime. 
 
 
3 Children, 5 Soldiers killed in two separate Malhazine-related 
munitions accidents 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. The death toll from the March explosion of the military 
ammunition dump located in the Maputo neighborhood of Malhazine 
continues to rise.  In two separate incidents three teenagers and 
five soldiers, including one South African, were killed.  The 
teenagers died when they struck a buried munition while playing in 
the yard of a home.  The FADM immediately began another search of 
the area to locate other buried bombs; experts believe many more 
munitions are buried, serving as a hazard to all in the area.  The 
five soldiers were killed when an explosive detonated unexpectedly 
during routine destruction of remaining munitions. 
 
 
Former RENAMO Deputy Defects to FRELIMO 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. The former parliamentary deputy of Mozambique's main opposition 
party, RENAMO, has defected to the ruling FRELIMO Party. Cristovao 
Nhacatete had been a RENAMO activist since 1991. He was a RENAMO 
 
MAPUTO 00000781  002 OF 002 
 
 
delegate in the Sofala district of Chemba from 1991 to 1999, when he 
was elected to the country's parliament, the Assembly of the 
Republic. 
 
 
Police Beat Lawyer 
------------------ 
 
¶8. Policemen severely beat a lawyer in a Matola city police station. 
His injuries required him to be hospitalized. The lawyer had gone to 
the police station to represent several clients, but attempted to 
leave after becoming intimidated by the aggressive nature of 
questioning by interrogators. Police versions of the story claim the 
lawyer was fleeing and subsequently became involved in a scuffle 
with other police officers, but photos of the injuries he sustained 
are more consistent with a severe beating. The Mozambican Bar 
Association demanded an investigation and measures to punish the 
involved police officers. 
 
DUDLEY