While Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi was chairing a high level session of the United Nations Security Council in New York, the country’s Defence and Security Forces (FDS) were all out in full gear at the Zimpeto National Stadium, in the outskirts of Maputo.
Nyusi is in New York to chair meetings because this month Mozambique presides over the rotating chair of the Security Council, with the themes “Threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts: the fight against terrorism and the prevention of violent extremism”, and “The impact of development policies in implementing the continental ‘Silencing the Guns’ initiative.”
Mozambique’s Mambas, as the football team is popularly known, were playing their Senegalese counterpart, the Taranga Lions, on Tuesday for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Ahead of the match, youths on social media had suggested to fill the stadium with supporters wearing t-shirts displaying the late rapper Edson da Luz, better known by his stage name as Azagaia, and shouting “Povo no Poder” (People in Power) and thus pay tribute to him without being brutally disrupted by the police.
Certainly, to ensure that no protesters filled the stadium, the FDS top brass sent out units of the regular police, the riot police, the military police, the presidential force, the security service, and about 8,000 plainclothes police who milled with supporters in the stadium.
Before the match started, there were a few chants of “Povo no Poder” without any incidents. Fortunately, there was no crackdown on protesters.
Meanwhile, there was not even a single squeak from the hallowed plenary of the Security Council about the brutal crackdown of protesters in various Mozambican cities on 18 March, which seems to have spilled over on social media with Nyusi himself or his communication team on Monday blocking a citizen on Twitter.
Comment
The sending of units of armed to the teeth FDS to a football stadium indicates that the regime fears its own people. Buoyed by Nyusi’s backing, the FDS top brass have decided to thwart any attempt at protesting.
Furthermore, internet services were restricted before and during the match, showing that the FDS do have the technological capabilities to block and restrict internet services.
As for the protesters, it was clear that only a handful were present in the stadium, preferring to watch the match at the comfort of their living rooms, and goading the FDS to assemble in full force in one place.
Perhaps, this digital cat and mouse game might become the new norm until the elections in 2024.
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