Mozambique authorities need to urgently and impartially investigate the killing of three dozen artisanal gold and gemstone miners during clashes with the police on December 29, 2025, in Nampula province, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities need to hold all those responsible to account and ensure justice for victims and their families.
Local civil society organizations said that the police killed at least 38 people during clashes in the Marraca mining area in Iuluti, Mogovolas district. Iuluti Community Radio reported that the victims' relatives notified them of at least 13 deaths. Police authorities have officially acknowledged 7 deaths, including one police officer.
"The available evidence indicates that Mozambique police used unnecessary and excessive lethal force, resulting in deaths and injuries to an as-yet unconfirmed number of people," said Sheila Nhancale, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "It is essential for the authorities to fully and impartially investigate these deaths and prosecute those responsible to restore community trust."
Tensions in the Marraca mining area are part of a broader pattern of recurring disputes over mineral extraction in Mogovolas district, Human Rights Watch said. Local communities and artisanal or small-scale miners have operated for years in areas for which the government had given private companies concessions, without the establishment of effective mediation mechanisms, economic alternatives, or transparent resettlement processes.
The police reported that the clashes began when members of the Naparamas, a local militia group, and supporters of the opposition party National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Aliança Nacional para um Moçambique Livre e Autónomo, ANAMOLA), led by Venâncio Mondlane, attacked a camp of the Police for the Protection of Natural Resources and the Environment. Police said the attackers wore masks and red headbands and carried bladed weapons. They said they arrested five suspects during operations to restore public order.
Civil society organizations and witnesses dispute this account, saying that most of those killed were artisanal miners and others with no political affiliation. Gamito Carlos, director of the Nampula-based organization Kóxukhoro, told Human Rights Watch that none of the victims had party membership cards. The artisanal miners have not disputed that they were carrying bladed weapons, which are used for extraction at the mining site.
Three local journalists said that informal arrangements existed between some police officers and artisanal miners, who paid between 50 and 100 meticais (US$0.80 to US$1.60) to mine at the site. Witnesses said that when a group of police officers, allegedly unaware of these arrangements, attempted to forcibly disperse the miners, the situation escalated rapidly, and clashes broke out.
A local journalist said that miners told him that police officers fired indiscriminately at people during the clashes.
A local resident said her 18-year-old brother, an artisanal miner, was killed during the clashes that day. "My brother left early to work at the mine and said he needed money for the end-of-year holidays," she said. "He never came back. The next day we learned he had been killed. Many of his friends also didn't survive." Fighting back tears, she said: "He was the family's provider. Now we don't know how we will go on."
Another resident said her husband, 41, was injured during the clashes and disappeared after seeking medical treatment in the city of Nampula. "We don't know where he is," she said. "When we call his phone, no one answers. We hear rumors that he may be detained or even dead." The family reported searching for him at several police stations without receiving any information from the authorities.
A 35-year-old local resident said that he saw at least three bodies of artisanal miners killed by gunfire, several people with serious injuries, and reported the disappearance of a relative who went to the mining site and did not return. "There were adults, children, and women there," he said. "Everyone went through moments of terror that still traumatize the community today. We ask the government to find solutions to regulate mining without violence."
Previous incidents in Mogovolas reflect ongoing tensions between the authorities and artisanal miners. In May 2025, about 300 artisanal miners entered a mining area in Iuluti, triggering violence, arrests, and reports of deaths following the prohibition of artisanal mining in areas for which private companies had concessions.
The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials require law enforcement officials to apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force, to use force only in proportion to the seriousness of the offense, and to use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable to protect life. The principles also provide that governments need to ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offense under domestic law.
"Mozambique's partners need to press the government to ensure a credible and transparent investigation of this dire incident, provide accountability and reparations for the abuses," Nhancale said. "The government also needs to take measures so that such atrocities never happen again."
