Mozambique: Hidden debts Credit Suisse deal won't save country from collapse - Renamo
Lusa (File photo)
The spokesman of Frelimo parliamentary group and member of the government-Renamo Joint Committee Galiza Matos Júnior said yesterday that there are good signs for the restoration of peace in the country.
“There are contacts at the dialogue table that could result in the peace all Mozambicans need,” said Galiza Matos, speaking on the sidelines of the “Thinking Mozambique” conference organised by the Youth Parliament in Maputo.
When talks were resumed after the hiatus caused by the withdrawal of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), the spokesman of the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) in parliament pointed to the “silencing of weapons” as a priority, advocating the disarmament of the largest opposition party as a precondition for the maintenance of peace.
“Renamo has to lay down its weapons, and its men must be reinstated,” he said, noting that Afonso Dhlakama’s party “[was] properly represented in the Mozambican parliament”, and therefore must respect the Constitution.
For its part, Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) spokesman Sande Carmona told Lusa that the dialogue model between the government and Renamo is finished, and that the country is being held hostage by two parties who are defending their own interests.
“Not much can be expected from this model of talks,” the spokesman of the third largest political force in the country said.
For the MDM spokesman, the creation of a commission to end the political and military crisis in Mozambique again bypasses Parliament. Peace is in “the interest of all Mozambicans”, and parliament it is the place to discuss the future of the country, he said.
“Sovereign issues like this should be debated in parliament,” he said, adding that if things continue as they are, the country will not achieve the end of conflict.
Mozambique has experienced a worsening of political violence in recent months, with clashes between Renamo and defence and security forces and mutual accusations of abduction and assassination of party members, and attacks on military and civilian targets in the centre of the country attributed by the authorities to the opposition’s armed wing.
The Mozambican government and Renamo last week resumed talks in Maputo aimed at ending the political and military crisis in the country, several months after Renamo withdrew from negotiations citing lack of progress and a perceived lack of sincerity on the part of the government.
In late May, the Mozambican government and Renamo resumed negotiations on the political and military crisis in Mozambique, the main opposition party having abandoned dialogue with the executive in late 2015 on the grounds of lack of progress.
The main opposition party refuses to accept the results of the general elections in 2014, claiming the right to govern in the six provinces where it claims victory in the poll.
Under the motto “Youth and Peace Agenda”, the “Thinking Mozambique” conference brings together young people, academics, representatives of Mozambican political parties and analysts to discuss ways forward for peace in Mozambique.
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