Maputo, Aug. 20, 2026 (Lusa) - The Mozambican Police Association warned on Thursday that the Commander-General could be held responsible for any human rights violations committed by the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR), having determined that the deployment of this unit is subject to his authorisation.
«This statement effectively puts the Commissioner-General in a difficult position, because there may be forces taking action and committing illegal acts or human rights violations, and he will be held responsible for such actions,» the association's president, Nazário Muanambane, told Lusa.
The Commander-General of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) recently ruled that the UIR may only be deployed in operations to maintain public order, security and peace with his authorisation, having observed the «misuse» of that force.
The decision is set out in an instruction addressed to the PRM's provincial commanders, in which the Commander-General, Joaquim Sive, states that there has been «improper use» of the UIR in operations to maintain public order, adding that the unit has been deployed «outside the legal framework provided for» special operations and reserve forces.
The measure aims to «reduce the excessive exposure» of the UIR in operations that do not require its intervention, with the police association warning of the risks posed by this decision, according to Sive.
«They will claim that he authorised it (…) that action can only be taken on his orders. So when the forces go on to kill people, breach regulations or violate human rights, it will mean those were the commander's instructions», said Nazário Muanambane.
The association maintains, however, that Joaquim Sive's decision was intended to clarify that the UIR must not be «used arbitrarily», given that it is a unit designed to disperse crowds.
«[The decision] will not undermine security. What will happen is that it will be better organised, and provincial and district commanders will exercise caution when deploying this force in specific operations which they know may endanger people's lives,» he said.
Meanwhile, Plataforma Decide, a Mozambican non-governmental organisation, takes the view that the UIR had «replaced» the police in street patrols because the latter were unable to assert themselves in the performance of their duties, due to factors such as corruption and a lack of adequate training for dealing with certain crimes, whilst acknowledging that some of the UIR's interventions ultimately trivialised the use of that force.
«It was the right decision, because it allowed the people to monitor the chain of command so that, in the event of abuses, those responsible can be held to account,» said Wilker Dias, director of the platform, pointing to the current «irregular use of the UIR».
«This decision will stand if we have proper training for the police protection forces, those who patrol the streets. If the training is effective and the procedures are sound (...), I believe the UIR will only be deployed on the streets when there are skirmishes that the police protection force cannot control,» he concluded, also calling for the police to be less «politicised and partisan».
The directive comes after, in late July, the secretary of state for the province of Niassa stated that he intended to deploy the UIR to curb fuel smuggling in the face of a lack of action by the police and border guards in combating this crime, given that the same force had been deployed between April and May to protect petrol stations following the fuel crisis during that period.
Also in July, the force was deployed for an operation inside a bar in Xinavane, on the outskirts of Maputo, which ended with the public execution of a suspect wanted by the authorities, prompting the Minister of the Interior to argue at the time that the police should only resort to force when it is «strictly necessary» and in a proportionate manner.
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