Renamo demonstrations will have “serious consequences”, say Mozambican veterans

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Renamo demonstrations will have “serious consequences”, say Mozambican veterans

8:30 CAT | 12 Jan 2016

AIM (File) / Fernando Faustino president of ACLIN.

The Association of Combatants of the National Liberation Struggle (ACLIN), which includes veterans of Frelimo, the ruling party in Mozambique, said on Monday that the demonstrations promised by the Renamo opposition party from March on “could have serious consequences”.

In an interview with weekly newspaper ‘Canal de Moçambique’ last week, the leader of Renamo (Mozambique National Resistance), the main opposition party, Afonso Dhlakama, reiterated the intention of the movement to seize power, from March, in six provinces in the centre and north of the country, where it claims victory in the general elections of October 2014.

“We will rule in March and no one will stop us. The fooling around is finished and we will not go back on this. I swear on the soul of my mother,” Dhlakama said in a telephone interview with Canal de Moçambique, saying that he was speaking from Gorongosa, in the central province of Sofala.

Asked by Canal de Moçambique how his party will form governments in the six provinces, Dhlakama claimed that Renamo would use peaceful means, including demonstrations.

“Everything will be peaceful, we need to make that clear, it will be as if we were holding demonstrations, but I want to assure all Mozambicans that we will govern,” Dhlakama emphasized.

In an interview with Notícias, the largest circulation daily newspaper in Mozambique, Fernando, the president of ACLIN, which brings together the Frelimo (Liberation Front of Mozambique) war veterans who fought against Portuguese colonialism, said that Renamo activities aimed at controlling the six provinces “could have serious consequences”.

“We as fighters of the national liberation struggle, urge all Mozambicans not to be intimidated by the inflammatory speeches of the leader of Renamo and to not entertain his calls for peaceful marches, because the consequences could be serious,” Faustino warned.

Characterising Dhlakama as an outlaw, Faustino said the country cannot remain hostage to the Renamo leader any longer and that the Mozambican Defence and Security forces will defend the country against the “agents of evil”.

“Who is (Afonso) Dhlakama to threaten everyone and everything? Is he really able to cope with the Defence and Security Forces?” Faustino asked, urging the judicial authorities of the country to hold the president of Renamo responsible.

In a telephone media interview from Gorongosa, in early December 2015, the leader of Renamo threatened to take power in the provinces where it claims victory in the general elections of 2014 .

Renamo claims that the solution to the crisis triggered by the general elections result of 2014 consists of the opposition party ruling in the six provinces where it says it won the poll. However, two draft laws aimed at creating autonomous provinces in the centre and north were rejected by the majority Frelimo bench in parliament last year.

A cessation of hostilities agreement signed in September 2014 between the government and Renamo ended months of fighting in the centre of the country, but there are still skirmishes between the Defence and Security forces and gunmen of the main opposition party.

Source: Lusa