France, June 16 -- Sandy alleys wind through Intaca, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Maputo where homes are built from bare concrete blocks and corrugated metal sheets. Heavy rain has left some of them flooded, and families are bailing out water as best they can.

Half-lying on a mat outside his small house, one leg in a cast from foot to knee, Amilcar Francisco receives friends who have come to check on him. The activist, who is in his forties, says he was tortured by unknown assailants a week earlier.

"As I was leaving work and waiting for the bus, a white car pulled up beside me," Francisco tells RFI. "Six men got out and forced me inside. They put a hood over my head and tied a rope around my neck and my hands."

He was driven to...