Mozambique-Zambia Permanent Defence and Security Commission meets in Maputo
File photo / Afonso Dhlakama
A planned telephone contact between Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique’s rebel movement Renamo, and Renamo members and supporters in the central city of Beira, failed to happen on Saturday, because of bad weather, reports the independent newssheet “Mediafax”.
Renamo had scheduled a rally for a sports field belonging to Beira Municipal Council in the densely populated neighbourhood of Munhava. A sound system was set up, including large loudspeakers which would have allowed Dhlakama’s voice to boom out to thousands of his supporters in Machava.
But this depended entirely on the phone communication between Beira and Dhlakama’s military camp, somewhere in Gorongosa district. Previously Dhlakama had been fortunate with his communications. He had been able to address press conferences by telephone and had spoken by phone several times with President Filipe Nyusi, which made possible the current truce, declared on 26 December.
Mobile phone communications, however, depend heavily on atmospheric conditions, and the further away from major urban areas, the more the phone network can be crippled by bad weather.
This was the case on Saturday, when it was raining in both Beira and Gorongosa. After several failed attempts to contact Dhlakama, the Renamo official in charge of the ceremony, parliamentary deputy Manuel Pereira, had to apologise to the crowd, and explain that the rain made telephone contact with Gorongosa impossible.
In the absence of Dhlakama’s voice, Renamo used the rally as an opportunity to present several senior figures in the Sofala provincial structures of the rebel movement, who had been in hiding in the bush, but have now returned to public life, confident that their lives are not at risk.
“We have talked with the Sofala governor and with the provincial police commander, and we have received guarantees that we can work without problems”, Pereira said. “Our father (i.e. Dhlakama) has also given guarantees that there will be no war”.
He said the Munhava rally could be held because there was no longer any reason for fear. This kind of meeting, he added, would be replicated in all provincial and districts capitals, and in localities and residential areas, as part of Renamo’s preparations for the 2018 municipal elections and for the presidential, parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for October 2019.
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