Police held in Mozambique prison deaths

MAPUTO, Mozambique (Reuters) -- Eleven policemen have been arrested in connection with the deaths of 82 inmates in a prison in northern Mozambique, state radio reported on Friday.

Most of the dead in the prison in Montepuez were supporters of the opposition Renamo party rounded up by police after riots last month in which over 40 people had died.

Radio Mozambique said the policemen had been taken to Pemba, the capital of Cabo Delgado province where the clashes occurred. The report did not say what charges the group faced.

A police spokesman was not immediately available to confirm the radio report.

A preliminary report by government doctors concluded that the inmates probably died of asphyxiation after being squeezed into a single prison cell.

Radio Mozambique reported last Saturday that two senior police officials in Cabo Delgado had been suspended and a government commission would investigate the incident which took placed on November 21.

Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama has blamed President Joaquim Chissano's ruling Frelimo party for orchestrating the deaths, but Frelimo has denied the allegation.

Dhlakama's party has refused to recognise Chissano's government following last December's elections which they accuse Frelimo of rigging.

Political analysts say these events underscore the fragility of the country's democracy since the end of a 16-year civil war in 1992.

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