At least 50 prisoners dead

At least 50 inmates died in a jail on Tuesday night in the northern town of Montepuez, one of the centres of recent anti-government rioting, agencies reported. Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi was quoted as saying in the capital Maputo that the deaths may have been caused by suffocation, due to prison overcrowding, food poisoning or lack of water. He said the government had sent a team of experts to the town, some 1,600 km north of the capital, to investigate.

Mocumbi called on foreign countries for help in determining what happened at the prison. Mozambique’s TVM television station said a team of South African doctors had already arrived in Montepuez. The town’s jail population had been swollen by detentions following protests earlier this month by supporters of the opposition RENAMO movement which was protesting at the outcome of last December’s elections.

Forty-one people died and up to 200 people were arrested in the violence, which took place mainly in the north and centre of the country. RENAMO leader Afonso Dhlakama blamed President Joaquim Chissano’s ruling FRELIMO party for the deaths of the inmates, most of whom he said were his supporters. FRELIMO Secretary General Manuel Tome dismissed the allegation, saying Dhlakama was prone to making such accusations to improve his image.