Mozambique's president-elect calls for 'non-violence'

MAPUTO - Mozambique's president-elect Daniel Chapo on Friday called for "non-violence" and "unity" after widespread rioting this week sparked by his ruling party's contested election win.

Chapo, who said he "regretted" the violence, promised that after his inauguration in mid-January, he would be "the president of all" in the southern African country, despite opposition claims of vote-rigging.

Mozambique's top court on Monday confirmed that Frelimo, Chapo's party that has been in power for 50 years, won the October 9 vote, triggering four days of unrest that saw streets blocked, shops and businesses torched, and looting.

Some 134 people were killed in the unrest, according to local NGO Plataforma Decide, taking the overall death toll since the elections to at least 261.

Chapo said in his first public statement since the court decision that the worst affected cities were the capital Maputo, neighbouring Matola, the central city of Beira and Nampula in the north.

"These acts only contribute to the decline of the country and the increase in the number of Mozambicans who are heading towards unemployment and poverty," added the former provincial governor, who takes over an impoverished nation with glaring inequality in just a few weeks.

Chapo thanked citizens who helped remove makeshift barricades to try to get life back to normal and praised security forces for "mitigating the harmful effects of political polarisation".

Several police officers died during the clashes, he added.

He promised to turn around the country's economy and to do "everything to renew" Mozambique.

International observers also pointed to electoral irregularities in the disputed presidential poll, which the Constitutional Council said Chapo won with 65.17 percent of the vote.

The country's electoral commission had initially said Frelimo won nearly 71 percent of the vote.

Before this week, Mozambique had seen a wave of demonstrations, strikes and blockades in protest at the election.