“Not easy” to ensure there will be no attacks over Christmas – Dhlakama

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“Not easy” to ensure there will be no attacks over Christmas – Dhlakama

11:07 CAT | 23 Dec 2016

O líder da Renamo, Afonso Dlhakama (C), fala aos jornalistas antes do início da sua viagem a Maputo para assinar com o Presidente da República, Armando Guebuza, o fim da violência militar que assolou o país nos últimos meses, na serra da Gorongosa, Sofala, centro de Moçambique, 04 de setembro de 2014. Dhlakama deixou a capital moçambicana no contexto da crise política que se seguiu à derrota da Renamo nas eleições gerais de 2009, instalando-se, primeiro, na cidade de Nampula, norte do país, e depois em Satungira, centro, de onde foi obrigado retirar-se, refugiando-se algures na Serra da Gorongosa, na região, na sequência da tomada do seu acampamento pelo exército. ANDRÉ CATUEIRA/LUSA

Lusa (File photo) / Afonso Dhlakama

Renamo (Mozambican National Resistance) leader Afonso Dhlakama said yesterday that “it would not be easy” to guarantee that there will be no attacks by the main opposition party’s armed wing over the Christmas season, and blamed the government for the lack of a “truce”.

“It is not easy to say that there will be no attacks [during the holiday season]. I would like this not to happen, but that does not depend only on one party,” Dhlakama said in an interview with O País.

Renamo, he continued, cannot guarantee that it will not be attacked by the Defence and Security Forces (SDF), which makes a unilateral truce commitment impractical.

The Renamo leader said the recent series of attacks attributed by the Mozambican authorities to the armed wing of his movement, including an attack to a prison where 48 inmates escaped, was justified on the grounds of self-defence.

“It’s a matter of defence. You know that we are attacked here every day [in the Gorongosa mountains in the center of the country]. On the 6th, one of our [Renamo] bases was attacked, and there were incursions to conduct a major offensive in Gorongosa,” he added.

The Renamo leader said that the government’s proposal to exclude international mediators from a specialised commission set up to discuss decentralization had stalled peace talks between the government and Renamo and made the possibility of a truce unfeasible.

“We look at this with suspicion, because this comes after the mediators have helped and worked with Frelimo and Renamo. Things are ripe and then there is a proposal to remove them?” the Renamo leader asked.

In another interview, published Wednesday by the weekly Canal de Moçambique, the Renamo president accused Frelimo of trying to force the opposition the force to lose its head and act in desperation by carrying out political assassinations.

“[Frelimo] wants to make Renamo lose its head and act in desperation. Renamo says this is a joke and that we want none of it,” the Renamo leader said in an interview with the weekly Canal de Moçambique.

Dhlakama declared that the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) did not want peace negotiations, and accused the party in power of the murder of Renamo peace process negotiator Jeremias Pondeca in October.

“For this very reason, when Jeremias Pondeca was murdered, everyone was afraid that [Afonso] Dhlakama would break off the negotiations, but I made statements to the press to say I wouldn’t, despite Pondeca’s murder,” the Renamo leader said.

While reiterating his accusation that Frelimo was not serious about the negotiation process, Afonso Dhlakama pointed out that the only alternative was to continue the political dialogue and that that was the only way to avenge Pondeca’s death.

Central and northern Mozambique are being plagued by military violence following Renamo’s refusal to accept the results of the general elections in 2014, claiming that Frelimo rigged the count to keep itself in power.

The work of the joint commission of the Government and Renamo delegations stopped last week without an agreement on the decentralization package required by Renamo to end the political and military crisis in Mozambique, and the mediators left Maputo, saying that they would only return if summoned by the parties.

Source: Lusa