Tensions in Mozambique run high ahead of controversial inauguration – with at least 300 killed by police
Young men guard their barricades in the Casa Branca neighbourhood on the outskirts of Mozambique’s capital, Maputo.
They block off our van and one of them flashes a knife as we get down and try to convince them to speak to us. It is a state of frustration, rage and hyper-defence.
The escalating civil unrest began in October, after an election overshadowed by allegations of rigging against Mozambique‘s ruling party, Frente de Libertaco de Moçambique (FRELIMO), who were declared winners.
With the inauguration of FRELIMO’s presidential candidate Daniel Chapo now just a day away, tensions in the capital are running high – and the number of deaths due to the police crackdown on the protests has now topped 300.
As we talk to the men in Casa Branca, balaclava-wearing police officers in armoured vehicles and pick-up trucks close in. Live shots ring out and tear gas is directed at our small gathering.
We take cover as the young men run into their neighbourhood.
Two armed police officers wearing balaclavas
Armed police patrolled just metres away – and soon fired shots and tear gas
We come back to speak to them after calm returns. Trust has been built in the short moments of chaos and more people join from the neighbourhood inroads to air their grievances.
“Why are they firing at us while terrorists kill our people in Cabo Delgado?” yells one man waving a tear gas canister and citing the Islamic State insurgency ravaging northern Mozambique.
“How can you live in a poor country and buy properties in Dubai?!” shouts another.
“A coconut costs 100 metical! How can a coconut be 100? Mozambique grows coconuts!” says another.
The young men agreed to speak to us after the police stopped firing at them
An older woman joins the furore: “People were shot with live bullets. Right here where we are standing. They are not aiming upwards but right at the people.
“Who voted for them? Who voted for them to rule us? We didn’t vote for FRELIMO or Chapo. We voted for Venencio!”
The crowd soon starts yelling the name of one man: Venancio Mondlane. The pastor-turned-political commentator who ran for president in Mozambique’s October election after resigning as a member of parliament.
Mr Mondlane has just returned to Maputo after nearly three months in exile following threats to his life and the double murder of his lawyer and closest associate.
At a hotel in the capital, he tells us: “I heard the people say that now it is time to forget that kind of local level, local municipality elections. Now we want you to be the president of Mozambique.”
When he arrived at Maputo International Airport, he took a presidential oath on the Bible to the throngs of people who faced tear gas and rubber bullets to meet him on arrival.
“This is what people told me on social media and many of them when they see me,” he says. “I was praying on this and I received the answer. The divine answer was: it is time, you must go. And then I begin this and run as a candidate for the elections.”
After rallying people across the country, Mozambique’s National Electoral Commission (CNE) declared victory for Daniel Chapo with 70% of the vote.
Daniel Chapo’s inauguration is scheduled to take place on Wednesday
Mr Chapo was the presidential candidate and secretary-general of FRELIMO – the founding party of modern Mozambique that liberated its people from three centuries of Portuguese colonial rule in 1975 and held power for the 50 years that followed.
In recent years, FRELIMO’s liberation-era generals and ministers have been accused of fraud and corruption – most notably, a $2bn secret US loan scandal.
“With the mercy of God, they would only get like 10%. The high mercy of God,” Mr Mondlane says, pointing to the sky.
“That is why they are killing people. They are shooting people. During the election, they arrested our party monitors that were key to monitoring the polls.”
A man allegedly injured by a gunshot wound – fired by police – receives treatment in the city of Matola
Local and international independent observers have cited irregularities in the voting process and a lack of transparency in declaring results.
The 179-person European Union Election Observer mission noted “irregularities during the counting and unjustified alteration of election results at the polling station and district level”.
Mr Mondlane called for three days of national strike and protest in the lead-up to Mr Chapo’s presidential inauguration. If not to take power now, then at least to make a point.
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Venancio Mondlane recently ended a three-month self-imposed exile
“The best situation – the most comfortable – is to take power now. But we know that is not automatic,” he explains. “Some things are a process – resistance is a process.
“Yes, it is symbolic but it is also practical because when you have an inauguration one of the things that have an impact is the number of crowds.
“If you have got something like 90% of people protesting and 10% of people at the inauguration, then this has political meaning – even to the international community.”
The streets in central Maputo were eerily silent as MPs were sworn in on Monday. Armoured vehicles, the military and the police were widely deployed.
The main room of the Assembly of the Republic was buzzing with Mozambique’s ruling elite. Two half-rows of empty chairs were a loud reminder of the boycott fuelled by Mr Mondlane.
As the day wore on, reports emerged of protesters shot in the next city, Matola.
At Matola’s main hospital, we see men who say they were in the area when the police started firing. In a single ward, one man had a gunshot wound shot in his crotch, another in his forearm arm and one in his leg.
Even as he writhes in pain from a bullet hole in his leg, Arone tells me that time is up.
“I want a change,” he says. “This government don’t make well for our people.”
A man lays injured at a hospital in Matola
In the upper balcony of the Assembly of the Republic, I ask President-elect Daniel Chapo what he has to say to Mozambicans whose loved ones were killed in the run-up to his presidency, to protect FRELIMO’s grip on power.
“Firstly, it is very important to be in power – after the inauguration – and then it is important to work with all people in Mozambique to develop our country,” says Mr Chapo.
Will there be any accountability for the 300 people who were killed?
“Yes, we are working now with it. We know it is not good and we want to talk to people. It is good to be in peace and develop our country.”
US warships in the region, the green light for covert operations, and deadly strikes on what the Trump administration claims are “narco terrorists” – could America’s next move be to strike Venezuela?
President Donald Trump has accused President Nicolas Maduro of leading an organised crime gang (without providing evidence) and declined to answer when questioned if the CIA has the authority to assassinate him.
In return, the Venezuelan leader has accused Mr Trump of seeking regime change and of “fabricating a new eternal war” against his country, as he appealed to the American people for peace.
The rhetoric coming out of the White House, coupled with the presence of military ships in the region, has raised questions about a possible armed conflict between the US and Venezuela.
The question in the air is: Will the US actually attack Venezuela?
The USS Gravely destroyer arrives in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 26 October. Pic: AP
What are US warships doing?
The docking of the USS Gravely guided missile destroyer in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago – just 25 miles from the coast of Venezuela – is the latest incident to escalate tensions.
Venezuela’s government condemned the arrival and called it a provocation by Trinidad and Tobago and the US.
The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier – the largest warship in the world – is also moving closer to Venezuela.
Satellite image shows USS Gerald R Ford on 25 October off the coast of Croatia, a day after the announcement it would be deployed to the Caribbean. Pic: EU Copernicus
It comes as the US has acknowledged carrying out at least seven strikes since September on vessels near Venezuela that it claims were transporting drugs, killing at least 32 people.
Venezuela’s government says the strikes are illegal, amount to murder, and are acts of aggression.
Earlier this month, Trump confirmed he has authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations – including lethal operations – in Venezuela.
The CIA has a long history of operations in Latin America, with actions varying widely from direct paramilitary engagement to intelligence gathering and support roles with little to no physical footprint.
What could happen?
To get an idea of what could happen next, Sky News spoke to Dr Carlos Solar, an expert on Latin American security at the RUSI defence thinktank.
He says the level of military strategy the US is applying around Venezuela seems “unproportionate” for the task of tackling drug trafficking.
In Venezuela, the government has civilians trained in the use of weapons to defend the country in the event of a US attack. Pic: AP
“A build-up this size can only suggest there’s a strategic military goal,” he added.
Dr Solar says the role of the CIA is “not surprising”, as the US often deploys spying capabilities in countries deemed adversarial.
“With the chances of a military conflict looming, having the most intelligence capable on the ground would be reasonable.”
The world’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford, has been tasked to the Caribbean. File pic: Reuters
Asked what could happen next, Dr Solar told Sky News: “One scenario is Trump authorises a round of long-range precision attacks in Venezuela’s territory linked to drug trafficking operations, eventually forcing Maduro to reciprocate later.
“We saw this early in the year when the US attacked Iran’s nuclear facilitates and Tehran returned missiles to US bases in Qatar.
“If the US decides to move more strongly, destroying all critical military targets from the Venezuelan forces, then the US could have Maduro surrender and leave the country immediately.
“This would be the least disruptive without causing greater destabilisation of the country.”
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Venezuelan President: ‘We don’t want a war’
What does Trump say about Venezuela?
Trump said his reasons for the strikes on vessels were the migration of Venezuelans, allegedly including former prisoners, to the US – and drug trafficking.
“I authorised for two reasons really,” he said. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America…they came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border,” he told reporters. “And the other thing are drugs.”
He has accused Venezuela of trafficking huge amounts of cocaine into the US, and alleged Mr Maduro is the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang – a claim most of his own intelligence agencies do not support.
President Donald Trump is currently on a tour of Asia. Pic: Reuters
The US leader has not provided evidence for the claim about prisoners, and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay pointed out the fentanyl drug that is causing destruction in America is largely manufactured in Mexico, not Venezuela.
“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Mr Trump added. It is not clear what actions this could entail.
The Pentagon recently disclosed to US Congress that the president has determined the US is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
When asked if the CIA has the authority to execute Maduro, which would be a massive intervention, Trump declined to answer. Instead, he said: “I think Venezuela is feeling heat.”
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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters
What does Venezuela’s leader say?
Maduro has been in power since 2013, including re-elections in contests marred by accusations of fraud.
The last decade has seen his country gripped by spiralling hyperinflation and a humanitarian crisis that has seen an estimated eight million Venezuelans flee the country.
As the USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier moved closer to Venezuela, Maduro accused the US government of “fabricating a new eternal war” against his country.
Venezuelan ambassador to the UN, Samuel Moncada, holds a newspaper article about a recent US military strike. Pic: Reuters
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war that we will avoid,” he said in a national address.
“They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one,” he added, perhaps a reference to Trump’s claim that he is the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang and that his country trafficks cocaine into the US.
“Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”
Members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard. Pic: Reuters
Tren de Aragua, which traces its roots to a Venezuelan prison, is not known for having a big role in global drug trafficking but instead for its involvement in contract killings, extortion, and people smuggling.
Venezuela has raised a complaint to the UN Security Council and demanded accountability from the US.
An estimated 1.2 million people a week have conversations with ChatGPT that indicate they are planning to take their own lives.
The figure comes from its parent company OpenAI, which revealed 0.15% of users send messages including “explicit indicators of potential suicide planning or intent”.
Earlier this month, the company’s chief executive Sam Altman estimated that ChatGPT now has more than 800 million weekly active users.
While the tech giant does aim to direct vulnerable people to crisis helplines, it admitted “in some rare cases, the model may not behave as intended in these sensitive situations”.
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OpenAI launches web browser
OpenAI evaluated over 1,000 “challenging self-harm and suicide conversations” with its latest model GPT-5 and found it was compliant with “desired behaviours” 91% of the time.
But this would potentially mean that tens of thousands of people are being exposed to AI content that could exacerbate mental health problems.
The company has previously warned that safeguards designed to protect users can be weakened in longer conversations – and work is under way to address this.
“ChatGPT may correctly point to a suicide hotline when someone first mentions intent, but after many messages over a long period of time, it might eventually offer an answer that goes against our safeguards,” OpenAI explained.
OpenAI’s blog post added: “Mental health symptoms and emotional distress are universally present in human societies, and an increasing user base means that some portion of ChatGPT conversations include these situations.”
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Parents suing OpenAI after death of son
A grieving family is currently in the process of suing OpenAI – and allege ChatGPT was to blame for their 16-year-old boy’s death.
Adam Raine’s parents claim the tool “actively helped him explore suicide methods” and offered to draft a note to his relatives.
Court filings suggest that, hours before he died, the teenager uploaded a photo that appeared to show his suicide plan – and when he asked whether it would work, ChatGPT offered to help him “upgrade” it.
Last week, the Raines updated their lawsuit and accused OpenAI of weakening the safeguards to prevent self-harm in the weeks before his death in April this year.
In a statement, the company said: “Our deepest sympathies are with the Raine family for their unthinkable loss. Teen wellbeing is a top priority for us – minors deserve strong protections, especially in sensitive moments.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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