Mozambique’s El Chapo sworn in as president after disputed elections

Daniel Chapo from Mozambique The long-ruling Frelimo party was sworn in as president on Wednesday in a sparsely attended ceremony after months of protests against its disputed election victory.

A local civil society monitoring group says more than 300 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since the Oct. 9 vote, which the opposition says Frelimo won through electoral fraud and that Western observers say It was not free and fair.

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Frelimo denies accusations of electoral fraud.

He has governed Mozambique since the end of the war against portuguese colonial rule in 1975, holding on through a 15-year civil war that killed a million people before a truce in 1992.

El Chapo told a group of about 1,500 followers from a stage in the capital, Maputo, that social and political stability would be his government’s top priority.

Daniel Chapo of Mozambique’s long-ruling Frelimo party was sworn in as president on Wednesday (Jan 15) in a sparsely attended ceremony after months of protests against his disputed election victory. (Reuters)

He also promised to reduce the size of government by reducing the number of ministries, address youth unemployment and prioritize health and education.

The city center was virtually deserted and there was a heavy police and military presence, Reuters witnesses said.

Cyril Ramaphosa, president of neighboring South AfricaHe was one of the few heads of state who attended El Chapo’s inauguration.

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Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who according to official results came second to El Chapo in the presidential election, returned from his self-imposed exile last week and has urged his followers to continue demonstrating.

The post-election protests are the largest against Frelimo in Mozambique’s history and have affected foreign companies operating in the resource-rich southern African country of 35 million people. They have also disrupted cross-border trade and forced some to flee to neighboring countries.