Mozambique Police Are on Alert as Maputo Price-Increase Strike May Resume

Police in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, are on alert after receiving messages saying that a strike in the city may resume tomorrow, Maputo police spokesman Arnaldo Chefo said.

“We have received SMS messages indicating that the strike could resume on Monday,” he said by phone from Maputo today. “Police officers continue to patrol most streets of the city to avoid resumption of the strike and a repeat of incidents which happened last week.”

Text messages from unidentified people urging Mozambicans to strike against price increases last week sparked riots in Maputo that killed 10 people. The government announced plans to raise water and electricity rates by 30 percent starting on Sept. 1 and the price of bread by 25 percent on Sept. 6. Fuel and cement prices have also risen.

The strike over prices is the second since President Armando Emilio Guebuza, a 66-year-old businessman who is serving his second term, came to power in 2004. Riots in 2008 against food and fuel price increases left at least three people dead.

The government says the price increases are necessary and it won’t go back on them.

The southern African country was calm over the weekend, police said. In Maputo, the new wave of text messages led to people forming queues outside bakeries and grocery stores to stock up on food supplies.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fred Katerere in Maputo at fkaterere@bloomberg.net; Franz Wild in Johannesburg at fwild@bloomberg.net.

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