Kidnappings: Interior Minister challenges Islamic community to present evidence against government involvement

Raptos: Ministro do Interior desafia comunidade islâmica a apresentar provas contra envolvimento do Governo

The Islamic community recently accused some "high-ranking" members of the government of being involved in organized crime syndicates, namely kidnappings.

Family member of kidnap victim contacts FBI over discredit in national justice system

The accusation followed days later an accusation by the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, that kidnap victims were not cooperating with the authorities to solve the crimes.

This Monday (12), the Minister of the Interior, Pascoal Ronda, challenged the community to provide proof of the involvement of members of the police in kidnapping crimes. In Ronda's opinion, the recent accusation by the community's representative, Moulana Nazir, was made in the heat of emotion.

"All our reaction, our policing, should be loaded with elements that support the reaction. There are times when people are charged with emotion because they want a quick response and don't look at the surrounding factors... He spoke because he was emotional, because he was worried. We need to have elements to support our arguments. If everything we've said can be substantiated in order to resolve it. It's one thing to talk and another to prove it," said Pascoal Ronda, stressing that if the involvement of police officers is proven, "we won't forgive".

The Interior Minister was speaking in Maputo, and told the press that there are several countries that have been experiencing the phenomenon of kidnappings for more years than Mozambique "and there are 500 kidnappings a day..., but it's in our interest that no kidnappings take place".

He assured that "every effort is being made to put an end to it", and he has the support of everyone, "including the media". "We will succeed and one day we will celebrate".

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