President Nyusi tells US lawmakers he has been patient with Renamo

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President Nyusi tells US lawmakers he has been patient with Renamo

2:05 CAT | 06 Oct 2016

Noticias ao Minuto (File photo) / A view of Maputo, capital of Mozambique

President Filipe Nyusi told a group of US lawmakers in Maputo yesterday that he has been patient with Renamo, and accused the main opposition party of attacking the population.

“I’m personally involved [in the search for a solution to the military violence in the country], I have tried to have the utmost patience, consideration and tolerance,” Nyusi said during a meeting with six Republican and one Democrat senators visiting Mozambique since Tuesday.

The head of the Mozambican state argued that Mozambique is living in an abnormal and unprecedented democratic situation given that the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) has members in parliament and also has an armed wing involved in military actions.

“The population is attacked when traveling; there are attacks on health centres and local authorities; we have been telling the Defence and Security Forces that we are not in attack mode, but in defence mode”, Nyusi added.

The president stressed that his executive was still committed to dialogue aimed at ending the violence and the disarming Renamo so that the country can focus on economic and social development.

Nyusi urged the US Congress to help solve the political and military crisis in the country, noting that there are American companies with large investments in Mozambique.

“The American business community will pressure you for Mozambique to live in peace because they have substantial investments here are great and only peace can help develop the country,” he said.

Clashes between defence and security forces and the armed wing of Renamo, accompanied by attacks on civilian targets including vehicles and health posts, returned to Mozambique following the refusal of the main opposition party to concede defeat in the 2014 general elections.

Renamo demands to rule in the six provinces of the centre and north of the country where it claimed victory in the election, accusing Frelimo (Mozambique Liberation Front) of electoral fraud.

The government and Renamo are in negotiations involving international mediators aimed at finding a solution to the armed conflict.

Source: Lusa