Leading investigative journalist in Mozambique fatally shot
By Freedom Forum Online staff
11.27.00
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Carlos Cardoso, a leading investigative journalist in
Mozambique, was fatally
shot last week by assailants who forced his car to stop in in central Maputo,
the country's capital.
Gunmen emerged from two cars and fired repeatedly at Cardoso and his
driver. The journalist was struck in the face and died immediately, the
Associated Press said. The driver was hospitalized.
Cardoso, 49, was owner and editor of the daily
Metical, and his slaying Nov. 22
stirred wide condemnation by media advocacy and free-expression organizations
in Africa and abroad.
Metical called Cardoso's
killing an attack against freedom and democracy, and demanded "quick and
efficient justice," the AP reported.
"The murderers who killed him wanted to shut him up and indirectly all
who have been fighting in the press for freedom," Metical said. "They silenced an honest and brave
man, but they will not silence Metical. They will not silence any other voices
from a society that wants a decent country where people can live in peace and
prosperity."
Mozambique, which gained independence from Portugal in 1975, is still
recovering from a 17-year civil war that ended in 1992.
London-based Article 19 condemned the Cardoso's killing and noted that
Metical "had been investigating
alleged wrongdoing at the Mozambique Commercial Bank in a series of articles,"
noting that "many fear that the assassination may be connected to these
investigations."
Metical had been
scrutinizing the disappearance of $8.7 million from the Mozambique Commercial
Bank, the AP said.
Article 19 called for an independent commission of inquiry into
Cardoso's slaying and other cases of political violence in Mozambique.
Authorities in Mozambique said they had no immediate suspects in
Cardoso's slaying.
Meanwhile, the South Africa's National Editors' Forum condemned
Cardoso's murder as "symptomatic of a new disease which is spreading throughout
sub-Saharan Africa where editors, journalists and photographers face
ever-increasing risks as
they ply their craft and strive to keep the public informed."
The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted a colleague as saying that
Cardoso had received numerous death threats over the years "but did not take
them seriously."
Cardoso's remains were cremated in a ceremony attended by leaders from
across the political spectrum, the BBC said. Government and opposition parties
held a minute's silence in Parliament to honor Cardoso. Afterward, opposition
lawmakers marched to the scene of the slaying in tribute, the BBC said. It also
reported that the slaying came a week after Cardoso had criticized hardliners
in both main political parties "for stoking riots earlier this month in which
at least 40 people were killed."
The Media Institute of Southern Africa noted that a crew from
Mozambican Television arrived at the scene soon after Cardoso was shot and that
evening's main newscast opened with images of police removing the journalist's
bullet-ridden body from the car.
Cardoso was formerly director of the state-run Mozambican news agency
AIM, and from that position often criticized efforts of the then-apartheid
regime in South Africa to destabilize Mozambique, the AP reported. Cardoso
later founded Mediafax, the country's first independent newspaper and one
distributed by fax. Cardoso left to found Metical in the late 1990s.
The AP said Cardoso was a member of the Maputo Municipal Assembly,
representing a small political party.
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