Mozambique journalists face killings and silence as repression deepens
Mozambique's journalists are facing growing pressure after years of killings, disappearances and attacks that have gone unpunished. Violence against reporters intensified after disputed 2024 elections, while a long-running system of intimidation has reached a new peak. This sixth instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines how that climate of fear is reshaping the country's media.
Issued on: 18/06/2026 - RFI
Four Mozambican journalists have been killed or have disappeared since 2020, while others were attacked covering the country's post-election crisis in 2024. No one has been held to account. © Baptiste Condominas
Albino Sibia's final words were broadcast live on Facebook as he lay dying after being shot while covering a protest in southern Mozambique.
"They shot me and they're still shooting... I'm dying."
On 12 December 2024, the 30-year-old blogger was filming police firing tear gas during a demonstration in Ressano Garcia, a Mozambican town on the border with South Africa, when he was shot twice in the back.
Demonstrations contesting the results of the October 2024 general election, which triggered months of unrest, were in full swing at the time.
"Mozambican journalists paid a heavy price for covering the post-election crisis," said Muthoko Mumo, Africa programme coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Mozambique's branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) filed a legal complaint over violence against journalists during the unrest that followed the election.
"Proceedings were opened. Misa was heard in February 2025 but since then, nothing has happened," journalist Slaide Muthemba, the press freedom organisation's spokesperson in Maputo, told RFI.
Climate of fear
The post-election unrest lasted nearly four months and marked the peak of a long-running crackdown on press freedom and liberty of expression.
Mozambique is one of the few African countries never to have experienced a change of government since independence. Frelimo, the Mozambique Liberation Front, has ruled the country since 1975.
"What happened during the post-election crisis was something we had never seen before," Luis Nachote, coordinator of the Mozambique Centre for Investigative Journalism, told RFI.
"Over the past 10 years, we have faced severe restrictions. There have been many cases of people being arrested and disappearing."
Four journalists have been killed or have disappeared since 2020.
Among them was Joao Chamusse, editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Ponto por Ponto, who was found dead at his home in Catembe, on the outskirts of Maputo, on 14 December 2023. His phones and computer were gone.
Community radio journalist Ibraimo Mbaruco disappeared after being taken away by men in uniform in 2020. Online journalist Arlindo Chissale, from Pemba in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, disappeared in similar circumstances in 2025.
Rich in gas, rubies and lithium, Cabo Delgado is central to Mozambique's economic future. But the province has also been the scene of an insurgency by a terrorist group known locally as Al-Shebab and linked to the Islamic State (although with no connection to the Somali militant group of the same name).
The conflict has killed more than 6,500 people and displaced nearly 1 million.
Growing repression
"The post-election crisis frightened the regime and it responded very harshly," said Borges Nhamirre, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank. "Today, its control over the media is even stronger."
Demonstrations, the creation of Anamola – the party of opposition figure Venancio Mondlane, the defeated presidential candidate and driving force behind the protest movement – and the war in Cabo Delgado have all become taboo subjects, he told RFI.
"If you want information on these subjects, you have to search online. You won't find anything in the traditional media."
Online platforms have instead become an important space where many young Mozambicans exchange information.
"Communication through the internet and social media ended up raising awareness among young people. That's what triggered the mass outrage during the post-election crisis," explained journalist and sociologist Helder Leonel.
Leonel has hosted the weekly radio programme Hip Hop Time for 20 years. It has become a hub for rap and alternative culture in Mozambique.
"Through WhatsApp groups and memes shared on social media, a narrative emerges that runs counter to the one pushed by those in power," he said.
The Mozambican government or senior Frelimo figures have stakes in the country's three telecoms operators, Mcel, Vodacom and Movitel. Many young people have responded by finding ways around those controls, most commonly by using a VPN, or virtual private network, to hide their online activity.
Albino Sibia's final words were broadcast live on Facebook as he lay dying after being shot while covering a protest in southern Mozambique.
"They shot me and they're still shooting... I'm dying."
On 12 December 2024, the 30-year-old blogger was filming police firing tear gas during a demonstration in Ressano Garcia, a Mozambican town on the border with South Africa, when he was shot twice in the back.
Demonstrations contesting the results of the October 2024 general election, which triggered months of unrest, were in full swing at the time.
"Mozambican journalists paid a heavy price for covering the post-election crisis," said Muthoko Mumo, Africa programme coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Mozambique's branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) filed a legal complaint over violence against journalists during the unrest that followed the election.
"Proceedings were opened. Misa was heard in February 2025 but since then, nothing has happened," journalist Slaide Muthemba, the press freedom organisation's spokesperson in Maputo, told RFI.
Climate of fear
The post-election unrest lasted nearly four months and marked the peak of a long-running crackdown on press freedom and liberty of expression.
Mozambique is one of the few African countries never to have experienced a change of government since independence. Frelimo, the Mozambique Liberation Front, has ruled the country since 1975.
"What happened during the post-election crisis was something we had never seen before," Luis Nachote, coordinator of the Mozambique Centre for Investigative Journalism, told RFI.
"Over the past 10 years, we have faced severe restrictions. There have been many cases of people being arrested and disappearing."
Four journalists have been killed or have disappeared since 2020.
Among them was Joao Chamusse, editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Ponto por Ponto, who was found dead at his home in Catembe, on the outskirts of Maputo, on 14 December 2023. His phones and computer were gone.
Community radio journalist Ibraimo Mbaruco disappeared after being taken away by men in uniform in 2020. Online journalist Arlindo Chissale, from Pemba in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, disappeared in similar circumstances in 2025.
Rich in gas, rubies and lithium, Cabo Delgado is central to Mozambique's economic future. But the province has also been the scene of an insurgency by a terrorist group known locally as Al-Shebab and linked to the Islamic State (although with no connection to the Somali militant group of the same name).
The conflict has killed more than 6,500 people and displaced nearly 1 million.
Growing repression
"The post-election crisis frightened the regime and it responded very harshly," said Borges Nhamirre, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, a South African think tank. "Today, its control over the media is even stronger."
Demonstrations, the creation of Anamola – the party of opposition figure Venancio Mondlane, the defeated presidential candidate and driving force behind the protest movement – and the war in Cabo Delgado have all become taboo subjects, he told RFI.
"If you want information on these subjects, you have to search online. You won't find anything in the traditional media."
Online platforms have instead become an important space where many young Mozambicans exchange information.
"Communication through the internet and social media ended up raising awareness among young people. That's what triggered the mass outrage during the post-election crisis," explained journalist and sociologist Helder Leonel.
Leonel has hosted the weekly radio programme Hip Hop Time for 20 years. It has become a hub for rap and alternative culture in Mozambique.
"Through WhatsApp groups and memes shared on social media, a narrative emerges that runs counter to the one pushed by those in power," he said.
The Mozambican government or senior Frelimo figures have stakes in the country's three telecoms operators, Mcel, Vodacom and Movitel. Many young people have responded by finding ways around those controls, most commonly by using a VPN, or virtual private network, to hide their online activity.
Voice that won't fade
Alternative voices gathered on 6 May at the former home of rapper Azagaia in Matola to honour the musician, who died of an epileptic seizure three years earlier.
Azagaia became a symbol of dissent after authorities censored his 2008 song Povo no poder ("People in Power"), which has since become an anthem for many young Mozambicans.
"It's still almost impossible to hear it on the radio," Leonel said. Different versions of the song have nevertheless been viewed more than 1.5 million times on YouTube.
Marches held across several Mozambican cities after Azagaia's funeral in March 2023 were violently dispersed by security forces. At least 19 people were injured in Maputo, including two who were seriously hurt.
Activists, artists, journalists and academics came together at the house, which has since been turned into a library.
Outside, dozens of books were laid out on a table, including Traveller's Baggage by Portuguese writer and 1998 Nobel literature laureate Jose Saramago, biographies of former Mozambican president Samora Machel and US activist Malcolm X, and a comparative study of the first presidents of Angola and Senegal, Agostinho Neto and Léopold Sédar Senghor.
Above the entrance was written: "O verbo que nao se cala" – "the word that never falls silent".
Mozambique police accused of using spy networks to pursue government critics
Mozambique's criminal police are under growing scrutiny as political repression continues more than 18 months after disputed elections triggered unrest. Civil society groups denounce abductions and killings by security forces, with particular attention focused on the National Criminal Investigation Service, known as Sernic. This fifth instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines claims that Sernic has become a form of political police serving Mozambique's ruling party.
Issued on: 17/06/2026 - RFI
More than 18 months after Mozambique's disputed October 2024 election, civil society groups accuse security forces of carrying out abductions and killings. Rights defenders say the National Criminal Investigation Service, known as Sernic, has played a central role in the repression. © Baptiste Condominas/RFI
By:RFI
ADVERTISING
At 8.40pm on 23 January 2025, Simiao Carvalho was walking through Choupal, a neighbourhood behind the airport in Maputo, Mozambique's capital.
Protests linked to the disputed October 2024 general election had shaken the capital that day, as they had many times in previous months. Demonstrators continued to challenge the results of the vote, which had sparked months of unrest across the country.
"I was accompanying a friend to check that his boss's shop had not been vandalised," Carvalho tells RFI.
Three white and grey Toyota Hilux vehicles suddenly pulled up behind him, and 12 men got out, he recalls. "They were dressed in civilian clothes and had black face coverings."
Three other young men were nearby, also helping protect their boss's shop. "Go home!" the masked men shouted.
"When we turned our backs, they started shooting," Carvalho says.
A bullet struck his foot and he hid behind a low wall for hours before relatives helped him reach hospital.
Agency under scrutiny
"It's always Sernic that persecutes us," said Amilcar Francisco, an activist with the opposition party Anamola, referring to Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service.
Francisco says he was forced into an unmarked white car by a group of men in late April and beaten with iron bars on a patch of wasteland.
"One of them I knew," he adds. "He is part of the service. He is a short man with a beard. I don't know his name. You only observe Sernic people from a distance."
Sernic is officially tasked with investigating criminal cases and operates with what its website describes as administrative, technical and tactical autonomy.
Human rights defenders see it differently and describe the agency as a form of political police working for the government.
"Sernic is one of the most powerful services in the country," explains Borges Nhamirre, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
"It's more powerful than the army because it is politically very connected to Frelimo."
Frelimo, the Mozambique Liberation Front, has ruled the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Sernic's predecessor, the Criminal Investigation Police, operated until 2017.
Mozambique's current interior minister led that force between 2010 and 2015.
'Spies everywhere'
"Sernic is the armed wing of the regime," Nhamirre says. "They track people down in the streets, in bars." Part of that work relies on telecommunications surveillance.
Mozambique has three phone operators.
MCEL is state-owned. Movitel is 70 percent owned by Viettel, a Vietnamese telecoms company controlled by Vietnam's defence ministry, while 20 percent is held by SPI, a Frelimo holding company.
Vodacom is 85 percent owned by its South African parent company, with the rest held by private interests close to the government.
"Data protection is extremely weak in Mozambique," Nhamirre says. "Nobody uses phone lines. People prefer WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram."
A dense network of human informants also helps Sernic, Francisco adds.
"I'm sure the person who betrayed me is a member of our party," he says, rubbing his injured leg. "They have spies everywhere."
Mozambique was governed under a one-party Marxist-Leninist system after independence, and researchers say the government has built an information network across the country.
Among its local links are neighbourhood chiefs, known as chefes de quarteirao.
"They are the people you must notify if you move house," Carlos Quembo, a researcher at Amnesty International, tells RFI. "You explain where, when and why."
Several sources told the journalists behind the Mozambique Exposed investigation that neighbourhood chiefs are systematically drawn from Frelimo and often lead local party meetings.
One neighbourhood chief interviewed by the consortium acknowledged sometimes sharing information with the authorities.
Missing businessman
The disappearance of businessman Americo Sebastiao on 29 July 2016 shows the level of impunity critics say Sernic, and its predecessor, have enjoyed.
Sebastiao, who worked in the timber sector, was abducted in Sofala province in central Mozambique.
A judicial source in Portugal told the consortium that Portuguese police supplied Sofala's regional prosecutor with several leads that could have advanced the investigation.
"Sebastiao's bank card was used for nearly 10 days after his abduction," the source said. "Police recovered bank surveillance footage that could have identified the people using the card."
Portuguese investigators also provided the phone number of a man known as Aviao, whom their inquiry had identified as one of the coordinators of the kidnapping.
Contacted by the consortium on that number, Sergio Aviao acknowledged that he is a member of Sernic. He was also serving as a police officer in Sofala province when Sebastiao was abducted.
Mozambican authorities never followed up with Portuguese police, the judicial source said. The investigation never led to a resolution and Portuguese officers were never sent to Mozambique.
"The issue is sensitive and could affect relations between two states," the source said.
Neither Sernic nor the Mozambican authorities have responded to requests for comment.
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Gaëlle Laleix, reporting from Cabo Delgado.
It is the fourth instalment of Mozambique Exposed, an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a global non-profit network of investigative journalists. The project is based on nearly 100 interviews and five months of reporting by 30 journalists from 10 media organisations, including RFI and Les Observateurs de France 24 (France), Evident Media (United States), Expresso (Portugal), M28 Investigates (Rwanda), Paper Trail Media (Germany), SourceMaterial (United Kingdom), ZDF (Germany) and Zitamar News (Mozambique).
Mozambique's criminal police are under growing scrutiny as political repression continues more than 18 months after disputed elections triggered unrest. Civil society groups denounce abductions and killings by security forces, with particular attention focused on the National Criminal Investigation Service, known as Sernic. This fifth instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines claims that Sernic has become a form of political police serving Mozambique's ruling party.
Issued on: 17/06/2026 - RFI
More than 18 months after Mozambique's disputed October 2024 election, civil society groups accuse security forces of carrying out abductions and killings. Rights defenders say the National Criminal Investigation Service, known as Sernic, has played a central role in the repression. © Baptiste Condominas/RFIBy:RFI
ADVERTISING
At 8.40pm on 23 January 2025, Simiao Carvalho was walking through Choupal, a neighbourhood behind the airport in Maputo, Mozambique's capital.
Protests linked to the disputed October 2024 general election had shaken the capital that day, as they had many times in previous months. Demonstrators continued to challenge the results of the vote, which had sparked months of unrest across the country.
"I was accompanying a friend to check that his boss's shop had not been vandalised," Carvalho tells RFI.
Three white and grey Toyota Hilux vehicles suddenly pulled up behind him, and 12 men got out, he recalls. "They were dressed in civilian clothes and had black face coverings."
Three other young men were nearby, also helping protect their boss's shop. "Go home!" the masked men shouted.
"When we turned our backs, they started shooting," Carvalho says.
A bullet struck his foot and he hid behind a low wall for hours before relatives helped him reach hospital.
How Cabo Delgado's riches became fuel for the Islamist insurgency in Mozambique
Agency under scrutiny
"It's always Sernic that persecutes us," said Amilcar Francisco, an activist with the opposition party Anamola, referring to Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service.
Francisco says he was forced into an unmarked white car by a group of men in late April and beaten with iron bars on a patch of wasteland.
"One of them I knew," he adds. "He is part of the service. He is a short man with a beard. I don't know his name. You only observe Sernic people from a distance."
Sernic is officially tasked with investigating criminal cases and operates with what its website describes as administrative, technical and tactical autonomy.
Human rights defenders see it differently and describe the agency as a form of political police working for the government.
"Sernic is one of the most powerful services in the country," explains Borges Nhamirre, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
"It's more powerful than the army because it is politically very connected to Frelimo."
Frelimo, the Mozambique Liberation Front, has ruled the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Sernic's predecessor, the Criminal Investigation Police, operated until 2017.
Mozambique's current interior minister led that force between 2010 and 2015.
'Spies everywhere'
"Sernic is the armed wing of the regime," Nhamirre says. "They track people down in the streets, in bars." Part of that work relies on telecommunications surveillance.
Mozambique has three phone operators.
MCEL is state-owned. Movitel is 70 percent owned by Viettel, a Vietnamese telecoms company controlled by Vietnam's defence ministry, while 20 percent is held by SPI, a Frelimo holding company.
Vodacom is 85 percent owned by its South African parent company, with the rest held by private interests close to the government.
"Data protection is extremely weak in Mozambique," Nhamirre says. "Nobody uses phone lines. People prefer WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram."
A dense network of human informants also helps Sernic, Francisco adds.
"I'm sure the person who betrayed me is a member of our party," he says, rubbing his injured leg. "They have spies everywhere."
Mozambique was governed under a one-party Marxist-Leninist system after independence, and researchers say the government has built an information network across the country.
Among its local links are neighbourhood chiefs, known as chefes de quarteirao.
"They are the people you must notify if you move house," Carlos Quembo, a researcher at Amnesty International, tells RFI. "You explain where, when and why."
Several sources told the journalists behind the Mozambique Exposed investigation that neighbourhood chiefs are systematically drawn from Frelimo and often lead local party meetings.
One neighbourhood chief interviewed by the consortium acknowledged sometimes sharing information with the authorities.
Missing businessman
The disappearance of businessman Americo Sebastiao on 29 July 2016 shows the level of impunity critics say Sernic, and its predecessor, have enjoyed.
Sebastiao, who worked in the timber sector, was abducted in Sofala province in central Mozambique.
A judicial source in Portugal told the consortium that Portuguese police supplied Sofala's regional prosecutor with several leads that could have advanced the investigation.
"Sebastiao's bank card was used for nearly 10 days after his abduction," the source said. "Police recovered bank surveillance footage that could have identified the people using the card."
Portuguese investigators also provided the phone number of a man known as Aviao, whom their inquiry had identified as one of the coordinators of the kidnapping.
Contacted by the consortium on that number, Sergio Aviao acknowledged that he is a member of Sernic. He was also serving as a police officer in Sofala province when Sebastiao was abducted.
Mozambican authorities never followed up with Portuguese police, the judicial source said. The investigation never led to a resolution and Portuguese officers were never sent to Mozambique.
"The issue is sensitive and could affect relations between two states," the source said.
Neither Sernic nor the Mozambican authorities have responded to requests for comment.
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Gaëlle Laleix, reporting from Cabo Delgado.
It is the fourth instalment of Mozambique Exposed, an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a global non-profit network of investigative journalists. The project is based on nearly 100 interviews and five months of reporting by 30 journalists from 10 media organisations, including RFI and Les Observateurs de France 24 (France), Evident Media (United States), Expresso (Portugal), M28 Investigates (Rwanda), Paper Trail Media (Germany), SourceMaterial (United Kingdom), ZDF (Germany) and Zitamar News (Mozambique).
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