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“Ibrahimo Mbaruco’s apparent forced disappearance is of grave concern, particularly given the Mozambican security forces’ alarming record of wrongfully detaining journalists,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.
Mr Mbarauco was heading home after work on 7 April when he encountered a group of soldiers, his brother told the rights group.
The journalist then sent a text message asking a colleague to call him because the soldiers were harassing him, HRW says. But when the colleague called there was no answer.
It happened in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, parts of which have suffered a deadly three-year Islamist insurgency that has left hundreds dead and displaced thousands.
“The silence coming from the highest authorities is extremely worrying and we fear that he [Ibrahimo Mbaruco] could suffer the same fate as other journalists, who were held incommunicado for months last year for covering the violence in northern Mozambique,” said Arnaud Froger of press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
