Maputo — A driver of a pick-up truck believed to be a Zimbabwean died on Tuesday morning when his vehicle was ambushed by armed men in Gondola district, in the central Mozambican province of Manica.

According to the spokesperson for the Manica provincial police command, Mateus Mindu, cited in Wednesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, the attack took place at about 06.00 in the Amatongas area, near the main road from Beira to Zimbabwe. An unspecified number of armed men opened fire on the vehicle, killing the driver.

The ambush occurred near a position of the Mozambican defence and security forces. Asked how this was possible, Mindu replied that the presence of the government forces prevented any further damage.

Alerted by the shots, he claimed, the forces went into action – some of them immediately re-established the movement of people and goods along the road, while others pursued the attackers into the bush.

“We sent a contingent of the defence and security forces to strengthen the team already there”, he added.

Mindu said he had no doubt that the ambush was the work of “Renamo armed men”. He said the information from the intelligence services “led us to conclude, given the modus operandi of the attack, that these were “armed men of Renamo”.

As has become habitual in police statements, Mindu drew no distinction between the Renamo mainstream, led by Ossufo Momade, and the dissidents of the “Renamo Military Junta”, commanded by Mariano Nhongo. The distinction is important, because Momade signed a peace agreement with President Filipe Nyusi in August, while Nhongo has denounced the agreement and called Momade “a traitor”.

There have been a string of attacks on the main roads in Manica and the neighbouring province of Sofala since August, generally attributed to the Military Junta, but this was the first ambush in Manica this year.

The administrator of Gondola district, Moguen Candeeiro, told AIM that a second person travelling in the truck was injured.

The attacking group was hidden in a cemetery beside the road. Candeeiro said this is the same area where a vehicle belong to the district administration was attacked and set on fire last year.

Since the attacks began, “a climate of insecurity has been installed in the area”, said the administrator, with some people fleeing to places regarded as safe.

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