Mozambique opposition leader returns from self-imposed exile as police fire tear gas at supporters

MAPUTO, Mozambique — Mozambique's main opposition leader returned from self-imposed exile on Thursday, clutching a bible and saying he still rejects the results of a disputed election last year that sparked more than two months of protests against the long-ruling party and a violent crackdown by security forces.

While Venancio Mondlane stepped off a plane, security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of his supporters who gathered near the Mavalane International Airport in the capital, Maputo, to welcome him home. Mondlane arrived to applause from airport workers and then kneeled in the arrivals hall with a bible in his left hand.

''I want to fight within this country and I will, until the very end, keep fighting for this country,'' Mondlane told reporters at the airport. ''I'm not willing to accept election results if they are the same as those announced up until now.''

He left the country in October following an election clouded by allegations of rigging against the ruling Frelimo party, which has been in power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

Protests erupted after Frelimo was declared the winner of the Oct. 9 election. International rights groups say more than 100 people have been killed by security forces. Some local groups put the death toll at more than 200. Mondlane had called for people to protest the results.

Mondlane, 50, has said he left Mozambique fearing for his life after two senior members of his opposition party were killed in their car by unknown gunmen in a late-night shooting in Maputo after the election. One of the men who was killed was Mondlane's lawyer and advisor and their party called the killings political assassinations.

Police on Thursday also blocked roads leading to the airport after Mondlane said on social media earlier this week he would return to the southern African country. Tear gas drifted over the airport and surrounding roads and a helicopter hovered overhead. After arriving, Mondlane traveled by car to a public square in central Maputo, with thousands of cheering supporters filling the roads and following him.

Rights groups have accused the security forces of using excessive force against post-election protesters. Authorities have said the protests were violent and needed to be subdued, but rights groups say security forces have fired live bullets at peaceful protesters, and children were among those who were killed.

Mondlane, who wore a necklace of white flowers around his neck, accused authorities of kidnapping and killing some anti-government protesters. But he also said he was willing to enter into negotiations with Frelimo to end months of unrest, which has disrupted the country of 33 million and at times brought it to a standstill. Mozambique has also been battling a violent insurgency by jihadists in the north since 2017.

''I'm here in flesh and blood to say that if you want to negotiate, if you want to talk to me, if you want to come to the conversation table, I'm here,'' Mondlane said.

Mondlane and other opposition candidates accused Frelimo of rigging the election and international observers reported irregularities in the vote and the alteration of some results. Mozambique's Constitutional Council upheld Frelimo's victory last month, making its candidate, Daniel Chapo, the president-elect. He is due to be inaugurated next week to succeed President Filipe Nyusi, who has served the maximum two terms.

Mondlane was second in the official results.

The post-election unrest has spilled over to neighboring countries, with reports of thousands of Mozambicans fleeing to Malawi. South Africa closed its border with Mozambique for several days last year after vehicles were set on fire near the crossing.

The Southern African Development Community, a regional body, has said it will send a delegation to Mozambique in an attempt to find a solution to end the turmoil.

Frelimo, a leftist party that was once a guerilla movement that liberated Mozambique from colonialism, has often been accused of rigging elections since the nation's first democratic vote in 1994. That election followed a bloody 15-year civil war Frelimo fought after independence against rebel group Renamo, which is now an opposition party that Mondlane once belonged to before breaking away.

The street protests that have taken over several major cities since October have been the biggest threat to Frelimo's rule since the 1977-1992 civil war.

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