Threats to freedom of assembly in Mozambique have increased in recent years, as activists and community leaders demonstrating against injustice, government abuses or the high cost of living have faced police repression and many were arrested in 2023.

This scenario is described by the organization Freedom House in its report "Internet Freedom 2024: The Fight for Online Trust", released today, Wednesday (16), in which Mozambique continues to belong to the group of "partially free countries", with 44 points on a scale of 100.

"Corruption remains widespread at the highest levels of government, patronage networks are deeply rooted, with various groups competing for state resources, the anti-corruption legal framework is hampered by a series of loopholes," for example, embezzlement is not included in the Anti-Corruption Law, reads the document quoted by the Voice of America (VOA)He also points out that "the judiciary, susceptible to pressure from the executive branch, further impedes the application of anti-corruption laws".

Mozambique's inclusion on the "gray list" of countries under increased monitoring by the Intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in June 2023 due to concerns about its policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing is cited in the document as a reference to widespread corruption.

In the same publication, Freedom House writes that the "unelected elites of Frelimo (the ruling party), including military figures and powerful businessmen, maintain great influence and play an important role in defining the party's platform".

Civil servants, for their part, face strong pressure to campaign for and vote for the ruling party, and to make financial contributions to it.

"Those who openly support opposition candidates face intimidation from party elements within the state administration and the police," says the report, which points to Frelimo's excessive control of the country since independence, especially "since the first multi-party elections in 1994".

The Freedom House rapporteurs cite the amendments to the anti-terrorism law which, in their opinion, "contain provisions that penalize those who 'publicly reproduce false statements about terrorist acts' with up to eight years in prison."

"Press freedom advocates have expressed concern that the amendment could effectively criminalize reporting on the insurgency in the north of the country," Freedom House continues in reference to the situation in Cabo Delgado.

Still on the subject of the press, the report cites the media bill proposed in 2020, which "was criticized by MISA and other civil society groups for creating a state media regulator and limiting broadcasts by foreign media". The bill is still on Parliament's agenda, but without a date to be discussed and voted on.

Freedom House later acknowledges that "there are no legal restrictions on academic freedom", but points out that "academics have been hesitant to criticize the government since law professor Gilles Cistac was murdered after supporting Renamo in a television appearance in 2015".

Threats to freedom of assembly have increased in recent years, the document scrims.

"In March 2023, police fired tear gas at the funeral procession of rapper Edson da Luz in Maputo, known for his "protest lyrics highlighting poverty, corruption and human rights violations.

Days later, police in Maputo and other cities forcibly broke up peaceful protests to remember Azagaia and "at least seven demonstrators and organizers were arrested", according to Freedom House.

The Islamic insurgency in Cabo Delgado province continued throughout the year, leaving hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

However, despite the continuation of the conflict, the document highlights that "a relative improvement in security allowed an increasing number of internally displaced people to return to their place of origin by the end of the year".

(Photo DR)