Renamo: "We are challenging legal thinking in the country" - Mozambique Elections
Lusa (File photo) / A view of Maputo city
International mediators in the peace talks between the Mozambican government and Renamo, the main opposition party, will only return to the country if the parties convene them, said the coordinator of the mediation team.
“You see, I am packing to travel here. We will return to Mozambique if we are called,” Mozambique Information Agency quotes Mario Raffaelli as saying.
For the first time, international mediators in the negotiations between the government and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) closed a cycle of talks without making a final statement, leaving the negotiation process in some uncertainty.
Speaking to the weekly Savana, Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama accused the Mozambican government of trying to alienate international mediators by proposing the creation of a new group to draft a document on the decentralization demanded by the opposition.
On 7 December, the head of the government delegation, Jacinto Veloso, said that the new group would be “flexible, small and competent” and would be responsible for drafting a document on the ‘philosophy and principles to be observed in the drafting of legislation on decentralisation’, which would then be submitted to Parliament.
For the Renamo leader, “the way Frelimo [Liberation Front of Mozambique, the ruling party] put things in place implied that it was not necessary for foreigners to raise the issue”, jeopardising any work that the mediation team had already done.
The same point was also made by the head of the Renamo delegation, José Manteigas, who in statements to Lusa on Thursday said that the parties were close to an understanding, but that the government had then withdrawn.
The debate about decentralization arises from the biggest opposition party’s demand to govern in the six provinces where it claims victory in the 2014 general elections.
A subcommittee was appointed at the beginning of the negotiating process to draw up a legislative package which, among other matters, would consider the possibility of a constitutional revision, and in October, the international mediation team submitted a proposal for the ‘principles on decentralisation’ to the parties, and the document was discussed during several Joint Committee sessions.
The mediators tried to harmonize 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 hostlities, the negotiation also covers the depoliticisation of the defence and security forces, including the police and state information services, and the disarmament of the armed wing of the Renamo and its reintegration into civilian life.
The central region of Mozambique has been the scene of clashes between the armed wing of the main opposition party and defence and security forces, as well as mutual denunciations of abductions and assassinations of political leaders on both sides.
Renamo accuses Frelimo of having rigged the 2014 elections, allowing the ruling party to remain in power for 40 years. Authorities in turn blame Renamo for attacks on civilian targets and ambushes on main roads in the center of the country, where travelling is conditional on mandatory military escort.
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