Mozambique opposition leader returns from self-imposed exile as police fire tear gas at supporters

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) — Mozambique's main opposition leader returned from self-imposed exile on Thursday clutching a bible and saying he still rejects the results of a disputed election last year that has sparked more than two months of protests and a violent crackdown by security forces.

While Venancio Mondlane stepped off a plane, security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of his supporters who gathered near the main international airport to welcome him home. Mondlane arrived at Mavalane International Airport in the capital, Maputo, to applause from some airport workers and then kneeled in the arrivals hall with a bible in his left hand.

“I want to fight within this country and I will, until the very end, keep fighting for this country,” Mondlane said. “I’m not willing to accept election results if they are the same as those announced up until now.”

He had left the country in October following an election clouded by allegations of rigging against the long-ruling Frelimo party, which has been in power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975.

More than 100 people have been killed by security forces, according to international rights groups, since Mozambique erupted in protests after Frelimo was declared the winner of the Oct. 9 election. Some local groups put the death toll at more than 200. Mondlane had called for people to protest the results.

Mondlane has said he left Mozambique fearing for his life after two senior members of his opposition party were killed in their car by unknown gunmen in a late-night shooting on a street in Maputo in the aftermath of the election. Mondlane's party called the killings political assassinations.

Police on Thursday also blocked roads leading to the airport after Mondlane said on social media earlier this week...