Mozambique says will not compensate for riot damages
07 Feb 2008 13:20:48 GMT Source: Reuters
By Charles Mangwiro MAPUTO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Mozambique will not pay compensation for property damaged during violent protests over increased transport fares that left three people dead and 104 others injured, a senior government official said on Thursday. Thousands of people took to the streets early this week, protesting against a 50 percent rise in the cost of mass transport. Protesters looted shops, damaged vehicles and burnt some electricity poles. Police using live ammunition, shot and killed three people while trying to disperse the crowd. Transport and Communications Minister Antonio Mungwambe said the cost of damaged property could total millions of dollars but the government had no plans to compensate for the losses. "No where in the world the state compensates for losses sustained by any person in respect of damages by riots," he said in a statement. Fares have been driven higher by rising fuel prices. This year the local price of petrol has climbed 46 percent and diesel almost 90 percent. Kerosene prices rose 61 percent. Transport operators said they would scrap the planned fare increases and continue to negotiate with the government for a solution. Mozambicans frequently use overcrowded and battered buses because state-owned transport firms have a shortage of vehicles. Mozambique's largest trade union federation, OTM, has said workers spend 35 percent of their wages on transport. A recent U.N. development report said nearly 40 percent of Mozambique's people live on less than $1 a day. (Editing by Phumza Macanda and Mary Gabriel)
Thick clouds of smoke rise over Mozambique's capital Maputo as protestors burn tyres on the streets February 5, 2008. One person was killed on Tuesday when police opened fire on a ...
