Renamo president says unaware of the real claims of Military Junta leader

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Renamo president says unaware of the real claims of Military Junta leader

1:38 CAT | 05 Mar 2020

Renamo leader Ossufo Momade. [File photo: Voa Portugues]

Renamo President Ossufo Momade says he does not know what the leader of the self-proclaimed military junta, Mariano Nhongo, wants, which for analysts only worsens the crisis affecting the main opposition party in Mozambique.

“I don’t understand why Mariano Nhongo left Renamo bases in Gorongosa,” Ossufo Momade said in an interview with RTP, adding that Nhongo “abandoned the bases without explanation, moving to a place far from the bases of the Renamo security guards”.

The Renamo leader denies that Mariano Nhongo is being excluded from the demilitarisation process “because until today we only have a list of 10 men that we handed over to the government. The others are at the bases waiting for demobilization and integration. The elaboration of this list demanded certain requirements that Mariano Nhongo has not met”.

These statements come just days after Mariano Nhongo rejected an offer by the Christian Council of Mozambique to mediate between the Renamo leadership and the Military Junta.

Adriano Nuvunga, the director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), says this [attitude] merely aggravates the crisis that emerged during the electoral process that earned Ossufo Momade the leadership of Renamo.

“That is what gave rise to Mariano Nhongo, and from what we have seen in the various photographs, Nhongo is a historically important person at Renamo. So it does not seem appropriate for Ossufo Momade to be saying today that he does not know what Mariano Nhongo is complaining about,” Nuvunga stressed.

Other analysts however suggest that Nhongo “may be being used by someone within Renamo who wants to take Momade’s place”.

Source: VOA Portugues