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International mediators in Mozambique’s peace negotiations have begun to return home without the current round of dialogue resulting in any declarations, head of the Renamo delegation José Manteigas has told Lusa.
“They are already returning to their home countries. I don’t know if they’re coming back in January,” Manteigas said, accusing the Mozambican government of “bringing down the whole process” by excluding the mediators from the group that will be assembled to write a new decentralization plan.
In each three-week negotiating cycle, the mediators make a final statement before talks cease. But this did not happen in the latest stage, which began on 14 November and ended without any meeting being held, either separately or jointly, yesterday.
On December 7, the head of the government delegation, Jacinto Veloso, said that the new group should be “flexible, small and competent” and be responsible for drafting a document with the “philosophy and principles to be observed in the drafting of legislation on decentralisation”, which will then be submitted to parliament.
But for Manteigas, the government’s decision to change the process threatens the work that the Joint Commission has been doing in recent months.
“We were close to an understanding, but the government delegation backed down,” the Renamo delegation says. He expects “common sense” from the team mandated by Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi.
The point about decentralisation arises following the largest opposition party’s demand to govern in the six provinces where it claims victory in the general elections of 2014.
At the beginning of the negotiating process, a subcommittee was appointed to draw up a legislative package which, among other points under review, considered the possibility of a constitutional revision.
In October, the international mediation team submitted to the parties proposed “principles on decentralisation” and the document was discussed at several Joint Committee sessions.
The mediators tried to harmonise the document with the positions of the two parties, but failed to meet the end of November deadline they had stipulated for submission to the Assembly of the Republic.
In addition to Renamo’s demand to govern in six provinces and the immediate cessation of hostilities, the negotiation process agenda includes the depoliticisation of the defence and security forces, including the police and state information services, and the disarmament of the armed wing of Renamo and its reintegration into civilian life.
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