Mozambique: Pensions for former guerrillas condition for peace, says Renamo - AIM
In the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, voices say that, in the context of the Mozambique peace process, the withdrawal of defence and security forces should be monitored by an observer team.
This withdrawal is part of the agreement reached at the end of April between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, who in turn announced an unlimited truce.
President Nyusi ordered the withdrawal of government forces from the centre of the country, but elements of the largest opposition party are still unconvinced.
“Withdrawal already happened”
Last Saturday (1 July), Mozambican Defence Minister Salvador M’Tumuke, quoted by the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM), announced that forces had been withdrawn from eight positions that had been occupied “during the prosecution of Renamo”, but t clarified that the positions of the troops before the search operation did not form part of the withdrawal plan.
In response, Renamo spokesman António Muchanga is quoted by the Lusa news agency as saying on Tuesday that no position of the Mozambican defence and security force left Renamo’s bases. According to Muchanga, all Renamo positions in Gorongosa remain under the control of the government forces and said that the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, with whom the troops withdrawal was negotiated, was being “disowned”.
“A president of the Republic cannot be disobeyed by his subordinates … I did not see the minister of defence complying with what the president told him to do,” Muchanga said,
Avoiding mistrust
The mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo, a member of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), does not credit the words of President Nyusi and says that, in order to avoid suspicion, a group of observers should be established to verify the withdrawal of military from the region.
“As long as Mozambicans are unaware of the terms of this verbal agreement, it is difficult to demand anything,” de Araújo notes. “The head of state says the forces are already withdrawing from the Renamo bases in Gorongosa, but two weeks later the leader of the movement says that these forces are still there. The problem we have is the word of one against the other. We have no-one who can monitor this withdrawal.”
According to de Araújo, “President Nyusi says one thing and Dhlakama says another. Today they are reaching an understanding but tomorrow there may be confusion. If there were a group of observers on the ground, it could be different,” he said.
Contrary to Nyusi’s wishes?
Rogerio Supinho, representative of civil society organisations in Quelimane, also supports the idea of sending observers to observe the departure of Mozambican defence forces from the vicinity of Renamo bases.
“We need to make sure that President Nyusi is telling the truth, or whether there is disinformation on the Renamo side. We want serious civil society people who will have to produce correct and credible reports on this withdrawal,” he said.
Supinho believes that “the President is telling the truth, but the problem is that the war also brings economic gain to some people in Mozambique who are below him. I believe they may be doing precisely the opposite of what President Nyusi wants”.
Zambézia Frelimo member António Kussimbue is unaware of any motives people might have to distrust President Nyusi’s position on the withdrawal of defence forces from the region.
“I do not see any problems in this. There can be no mistrust of what the president of the Republic, the father of the nation, says. But the creation of an observer team may come from a consensus position because the dialogue we are seeing between the President Nyusi and the Renamo leader is having the desired effects. The president is committed to the development of the country, so why so much mistrust?”
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