(Bloomberg) -- Calm returned to Mozambique’s capital on Friday after police used deadly violence to break up a wave of post-election protests that shook Maputo the day before.
The city’s port resumed operations, according to Grindrod Ltd., a Johannesburg-based company that owns terminals there. Some public transport was operating and people were traveling to work, live reports by local television showed.
That was a stark difference from Thursday, when billows of black smoke mixed with teargas hung over parts of the city as security forces confronted demonstrators.
At least five people died and 120 were injured when a crowd tried to advance toward the center of Maputo, according to the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, which said protesters faced an “insurmountable barrier” of trucks and soldiers.
It had previously reported 34 deaths as security forces fired on demonstrations that erupted in the wake of disputed Oct. 9 elections. The official results showed the ruling party winning in a landslide, but outside observers say the vote was marred by irregularities.
The worst election unrest since the end of Mozambique’s 16-year civil war in 1992 forced the closure of its main border with neighboring South Africa, in addition to suspending the operations at Maputo port for roughly 48 hours.
The nation’s dollar bonds have plunged — though they were steadier on Friday — and fears are growing that a $20 billion natural-gas export project led by TotalEnergies SE may face further delays.
The government and ruling party have characterized the demonstrations as incitement of a coup. Opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane on Thursday said the nation is witnessing a revolution, and protests will continue until the authorities acknowledge he won the election.
Official results showed he took 20% of the vote and the ruling party candidate Daniel Chapo 71%, but Mondlane rejected that outcome as fraudulent. Local and international observers pointed to a raft of irregularities, including indications of ballot box stuffing and altering the results.
The party backing Mondlane has filed an appeal against the election outcome with the Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s top court, which has yet to verify the results. In the 2019 elections, the court only did so on Dec. 23.
The government has repeatedly urged Mozambicans to stay off the streets and wait for the legal process to conclude.
While the port resumed operations, the highway connecting it to neighboring South Africa on Friday remained shut at the border. Riots had broken out on the Mozambican side where authorities suspended operations and officials fled into South Africa for safety.
Some truck drivers have been stranded for several days in the queue that stretches miles into South Africa, waiting to deliver cargoes including ferrochrome and coal to the port.
The port is a key foreign exchange earner for Mozambique, and has become an increasingly important route to international markets for mines in neighboring South Africa battling with bottlenecks in that country’s export terminals.
--With assistance from Borges Nhamire.
(Updates with port operations resuming from second paragraph.)
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