Mozambique: PRM will protect Ossufo Momade and Renamo facilities

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Mozambique: PRM will protect Ossufo Momade and Renamo facilities

3:41 CAT | 12 Aug 2019

Picture: A Verdade

The Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM), one of the main points of the negotiations between Filipe Nyusi and Afonso Dhlakama and Ossufo Momade, will guarantee the security of the Renamo party president under the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement signed on August 6th of last week in Maputo.

The document to which @Verdade had access [click HERE to access the full text, in Portuguese, in PDF] , and which still needs to be ratified by the Assembly of the Republic, reveals that the largest opposition party has relinquished one of its main demands: the inclusion of its men in the State Information and Security Services (SISE).

While still alive, Afonso Dhlakama always advocated the need for some of his men to take up important positions in the SISE, arguing, for example, that the attacks against him at various times and places could only have taken place if they would had been orchestrated and executed by squads created and commanded by (SISE) where, as in the PRM, no Renamo party member was ever formally integrated.

There is strong evidence that the armed attacks which drove Dhlakama back to the Gorongosa mountain in 2015 were perpetrated by SISE-led armed groups. “When there are problems, there is always talk of the police, the military, but there are some always behind it: SISE,” one of its members told @Verdade in 2016.

Ossufo Momade has stated on several occasions that the integration of Renamo men in SISE “is our demand” and, when he was elected party president, his military wing reminded him that this issue had been agreed between Dhlakama and Nyusi, so “in this dialogue SISE should not be left out.”

However, the documents relating to the third peace agreement in our history, submitted last Thursday ( August 8) to the Assembly of the Republic, do not mention at any time that this requirement was agreed by the belligerents and subscribers of the Maputo Peace and Reconciliation Agreement.

Incidentally, in neither of the previous two Peace Accords, 1992 or 2014, was this situation ever foreseen, so it will be interesting to see if this long-standing demand leads to discord in the future.

Acordo de Paz e ReconciliaÃ§Ã£o proposta AR

“The security of the Renamo President, other Senior Managers and facilities is guaranteed by a contingent of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique.”

The documents to which @Verdade has had access, and which is to be ratified by the Assembly of the Republic in the coming days, show an innovation in relation to the 2014 Agreement and particularly in relation to the Rome Peace Agreement (1992), which provided that: “Renamo will be responsible for the immediate personal safety of its senior leaders. The Government of the Republic of Mozambique will grant police status to Renamo members charged with ensuring that security.”

By contrast, article number 6 of the Definitive Termination of Hostilities Agreement signed on August 1 by Nyusi and Momade in Gorongosa determines that: “The security of the President, other Senior Officers and Renamo facilities is guaranteed by a contingent of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, responsible for the protection of High Individuals, formed from elements selected under the Memorandum of Understanding on Military Matters,” further stating that: “The quartering, and its logistical assurance, is the responsibility of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique.”

There are no set dates for the PRM to take over the protection of Ossufo Momade and Renamo party facilities, but @Verdade understands that this will not happen before the dismantling of the opposition party bases and positions, a process expected to end by August 21st, has been completed.

By Adérito Caldeira