On the afternoon of January 7, 2025, journalist and politician Arlindo Chissale left his home in Mozambique’s restive Cabo Delgado province to travel to Nacala, a city in the neighboring Nampula province where he worked as a civil servant managing a cemetery, according to the journalist’s wife, Odete Muquera, and a friend who asked not to be named, fearing reprisal. This friend told CPJ that on that day, he drove the journalist from his home to a nearby road where he could obtain transport to Nacala.
Later that day, in the Cabo Delgado village of Silva Macua, eight men stopped the minibus Chissale was riding, according to media reports and the journalist’s brother, Macário, who spoke to witnesses. The men, three of whom were dressed in military uniform, took Chissale from the minibus, beat him, and forced him into a second vehicle – a white, unlicensed car, Macário told CPJ via messaging application. Chissale has not been seen since then.
Chissale is the editor of the online news outlet Pinnacle News, which has over 70,000 followers on Facebook, around 2,400 followers on YouTube, about 3,600 followers on X, and about 700 followers on its WhatsApp community channel. Pinnacle News’ coverage focuses on the conflict in Cabo Delgado, in which Islamic State-linked insurgents are fighting government and allied forces.
Chissale, who is a supporter of opposition politician Venâncio Mondlane, published political commentary on Pinnacle News and on his Facebook page, including about Mozambique’s October 2024 elections. Mondlane ran for president in the elections and disputed the ruling Frelimo party’s claim of victory. The dispute sparked a post-electoral crisis, as authorities used excessive force in response to protests, resulting in the death of over 300 people. In the weeks before the elections, Chissale published videos in support of the opposition, and in an October 2024 Facebook post, he alleged fraud by Frelimo.
Chissale’s friend, also a Mondlane supporter, told CPJ that he had received a tip from a trusted source in the security services, warning that Chissale was on a “kill list” as authorities sought to “shut down critical voices.” He said that when he met Chissale at the journalist’s home on January 7, he warned him to be careful, including about the type of transport he took to Nacala. Muquera separately confirmed to CPJ that she was privy to part of this conversation and heard the friend warning Chissale not to spend the night at his home. The friend told CPJ that Chissale’s political commentary “highly critical of the government” might be one of the reasons for his abduction.
Chissale supported the opposition party Podemos until it broke ranks with Mondlane in December 2024. Podemos said that many of its members have been murdered or abducted since the elections. CPJ has been unable to confirm several reports, published in January 2025, that Chissale was dead. Macário and Muquera told CPJ that Chissale’s phones were switched on for several hours on the morning of February 8, ringing without answer, after being offline since January 7.
On January 16, Chissale’s family filed a missing person report with the police, but as of mid-February, they had yet to be asked to record official statements about the case or to be informed by police of the investigation’s status, Macário and Muquera told CPJ. Muquera said that “not knowing his whereabouts is ripping the family apart.” Chissale has five children, the youngest a two-year-old.
Chissale has faced threats and attacks before. In August 2022, he told CPJ he feared for his life following online threats and harassment from a member of the ruling party and in November 2022, he was also detained for six days, initially accused of terrorism but later charged with working without journalistic accreditation. The circumstances of Chissale’s disappearance are also similar to those surrounding the disappearance of his friend and journalist Ibraimo Mbaruco, who was last seen leaving his work in Cabo Delgado on April 7, 2020, and later texted a friend that he was “surrounded by soldiers.”
During the run-up to and in the aftermath of Mozambique’s elections, CPJ documented a series of press freedom violations, including physical assaults of journalists and the killing of a blogger, Albino Sibia.
Pedro António, a public relations official of the Mozambican armed forces, told CPJ that he did not believe that the armed forces were behind Chissale’s disappearance and said locals often confuse other armed security forces with the military. Orlando Mudumanhe, spokesperson of the national police, did not reply to CPJs calls and messages, and neither did Noemia João, spokesperson for the Criminal Investigation Service in Cabo Delgado.
Leonardo Simbine, national spokesperson for the Criminal Investigation Service, responded via message app on the evening of February 21 that “the timing and channel were improper for responding to sensitive professional questions.” He did not answer several subsequent calls and messages from CPJ.