
Daniel Chapo from the Frelimo party was sworn in as president on Wednesday during a ceremony that had very few attendees. This comes after months of protests over his election win, which many people dispute.
A local group that monitors civil society says that more than 300 people have died in clashes with police since the October 9 election. The opposition claims Frelimo cheated to win, and Western observers say the election was not fair. Frelimo, however, denies these claims.
Frelimo has been in power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and has stayed in control through a long civil war that killed a million people before a peace agreement in 1992.
In his speech to about 1,500 supporters, Chapo said his main goals would be to ensure social and political stability. He promised to make the government smaller by reducing the number of ministries, fight youth unemployment, and focus on health and education.
The city center was mostly empty, with many police and soldiers present. Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, was one of the few foreign leaders at the ceremony.
Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, who came in second in the election, returned from exile last week and has urged his supporters to keep protesting.
The protests after the election are the largest in Mozambique’s history and have affected foreign businesses and cross-border trade in the country of 35 million people.
-Reuters